Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to ensure that Marathi is accorded the status of a ‘classical language’ at the earliest. “The Prime Minister must take all possible and immediate steps to ensure Maharashtra’s first language is given a privileged/elite status alongside six other languages already accorded the status of a ‘classical language’,” he said in a letter on Tuesday.
Mr. Thackeray pointed out that a proposal on this was submitted to the Central Government on November 16, 2013 which could be the basis for taking a decision. The report of an expert committee was submitted by the State government after studying if an ‘elite’ status could be given to the language.
“The Marathi language fulfils all the criteria of being an classical language. But despite pursuing this matter for many years and following it up repeatedly, the issue remains pending with the Ministry of Cultural Affairs of the Government of India,” the letter said. The MCA has forwarded the concerned files to the Literature Academy’s Language Committee but no decision has yet been taken. The Centre has only submitted that the proposal is under active consideration.
Recently Union Culture Minister Prahlad Patel, in reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, said his department in consultation with other ministries and committee of linguistic experts through (the) Sahitya Akademi will soon take a decision.
Sahitya Akademi, India’s National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India.
Six languages — Tamil, Telugu, Sanskrit, Kannada, Malayalam and Odia — have been given the status of classical languages. The status is granted after determining the eligibility of the language, recorded history of near 1500-2000 years, body of ancient literature, among other standards.
