Under the 2018 education policy, an order was issued to make Hindi compulsory along with Marathi and English in primary education in the state. Various institutions and organizations, including political parties, had criticised the government over the Hindi mandatory teaching.
Many educational institutions in Maharashtra and the political party Maharashtra Navnirman Sena have expressed their opposition. MNS chief Raj Thackeray had directly warned in clear words that we will not tolerate the imposition of Hindi.
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Following this reaction, there was widespread opposition to the mandatory use of Hindi in the state. Protests were also held at many places against this decision. Now, the government has backtracked from its decision of making Hindi compulsory. CM Devendra Fadnavis clarified that students will have the option of choosing other Indian languages instead of Hindi.
CM Fadnavis had come to Pune for an event on Sunday. After the event, he commented on the ongoing controversy over Hindi compulsion. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that Marathi language is compulsory in the state. Hindi language is not compulsory.