JNU vice chancellor professor shantishree Dhulpudi Pandit has shared opinion on the Marathi language issue. She said that for her the mother tongue is the most important and should always be the first priority. According to her, the other two languages a person learns should be useful for work and the market. She said “Whenever you live, learn the local language and the one needed for your career. This choice should be left to every citizen. All indian languages are beautiful. The number of languages a person speaks is not what matters in multilingualism. Language should not be used for hatred or to show superiority. It should only be a tool for communication. I encourage everyone to learn as many indian languages as possible, as each holds a vast treasure of literature and culture. Even though indian literature is written in many different languages, we are still one nation.
JNU Working on Different Languages
According to the recent reports, Prof. Shantihree Dhulipudi Pandit said, On July 1, the Maharashtra chief minister’s office expressed interest in establishing a special kusumagraj centre for Marathi language, literature and the culture. Marathi is one of the classical languages declared by the government of india under the national education policy 2020. JNU is working to introduce indian languages as a subject at the MA level, offer certificate courses for non-hindi speaker, support doctoral research, and translate important Marathi literary works into other languages. The centre is named after kusumagraj, one of the greatest poets and critics, who was also a jnanpith awardee. He is well known for his poetry focused on freedom, social critique and social equality. We thank the Maharashtra government and chief minister devendra fadnavis for their vision in supporting both these centres and for offering funding to Jawaharlal Nehru University.
In the recent times, a controversy over the use of the Marathi language and the hindi language has been growing in Maharashtra, commonly referred to as the Marathi language row. The dispute mainly centres around the demand to promote Marathi and make it mandatory, especially in Mumbai and other parts of the state. The issue carries political, social and cultural dimensions and has led to tensions and even violent incidents against non-marathi speaking people. Particularly The hindi speakers. This conflict was sparked by the RSS leader by march 2025 where he said that for the people living in Mumbai Marathi should not be a compulsory language.
