One of Bal Thackeray’s hobbies is giving ultimatums.   His latest ultimatum is to English medium schools in his state.  They have to make Marathi a compulsory subject.  According to a report in today’s (July 15) Hindu, Thackeray “also issued a series of threats against those who did not respect the Marathi language and culture and said that they would be dealt with in the ‘Marathi way’.”

I don’t know what ‘the Marathi way’ is.  Is it the tradition of the ancient Marathas who reigned supreme over a large part of India?  Implicitly, then, is it the way of killing and conquering in the kshatriya style?  If so, I think Mr Thackeray has to become more civilized.  The days of kshatriya-style warfare belongs to a very ancient and savage past.

Thackeray also read out some statistics according to which 92 lakh people migrated to Bombay (sorry, Mumbai – there’s a Thackeray-ultimatum against using the name Bombay too!) from UP and 52 lakh from Bihar.  I wonder why the children of these migrants should be forced to learn Marathi if they don’t want to.  I wonder what Thackeray will gain if a few more lakh people learn Marathi.  I wonder why people in Maharashtra (or anywhere for that matter) cannot choose the languages they wish to study.  There are so many things to wonder about when you are faced with a man like Bal Thackeray.

A report in the Frontline dated July 18 has this to say about the schools in Thackeray’s Maharashtra:  “Unfortunately, Marathi, Hindi and Gujarati schools are not sought-after as English schools.  Therefore, there are few new regional language schools.  Many are closing because of lack of students.”  So, it’s not just Marathi; even Hindi and the regional languages are suffering the same fate of neglect.  If students want to learn English because they know that it is the language of the future, why should Thackeray prevent them from preparing themselves for their future?  Does he want to make them Maratha warriors who will pick up the lance and the sword at his command?

In another part of the Frontline report we read that the Maharashtra govt is not willing to pay the teachers in the state-run schools that teach Marathi as a compulsory subject.  The report says that teachers appointed newly are paid a pittance of Rs 4000 (for teaching classes 8 upwards) and Rs 3000 (for classes 8 downwards).  “This,” continues the report, “when the minimum wage for unskilled labour is Rs 3500.  Moreover, these teachers get paid only for the months they work.  Or, they do not get paid during the holidays.”

If Thackeray is so much interested in promoting his mother tongue, why doesn’t he look after the welfare of the people who will teach that tongue?  The condition of these teachers should be at least better than that of unskilled labourers!

When the new academic session started in my school last week I found a student in class 11 who is from Mumbai.  When I asked him why he came all the way from Mumbai to Delhi for studying classes 11 and 12 his answer was: “The standard of education in Mumbai in these classes is deplorable.”

Mr Thackeray, did you hear that?

[Cartoon courtesy: http://www.jamesrmaclean.com/archives/000281.html]