आजच्या महाराष्ट्रामधील मराठीची परिस्तिथी

मला हे लिहायला खूप दुःख होते कि ज्या मराठी भाषेच्या आधारावर ह्या महाराष्ट्राची स्थापना झाली त्या भाषेलाच आज महारष्ट्रात मान नाही. मराठी भाषेला पोषक असे काहीही केले तर लोकांना ते अमराठी जनतेवर अन्यायकारक आहे असे वाटते. काही काळापूर्वी मराठी पाट्यांचा मुद्दा चांगलाच गाजला होता. तेव्हा देखील काही लोकांनी त्या चळवळीचा विरोध केला. खरंतर मराठीच्या राज्यातच मराठीचा विरोध होतो हे आश्चर्यजनक आहे. मुंबई मध्ये तर मराठी आहे कि नाही हाच प्रश्न विचारायला हवा. रस्त्यावर कोणासोबत मराठीत बोलले तर ती व्यक्ती आपल्याकडे अशा नजरेने पाहते जाणू आपण दुसऱ्या जगातून आलो आहोत. हल्ली लोकांनी हे गृहीतच धरले आहे कि मुंबई मध्ये मराठीला काहीही स्थान शिल्लक उरलेले नाही. खरंतर हा एक विरोधाभास आहे. लालबाग, पार्ला आणि दादर अजूनही मराठीच्या प्रचंड प्रभावाखाली आहेत.

Future of the Marathi language

I really wonder what would happen to our beloved language 20 years down the line. The use of Marathi is declining by the day. I have seen Marathi youths conversing in Hindi among themselves. I really don't understand the point of conversing in some other language when they both speak Marathi as their mother tongue. When asked they, when there would be an argument between Marathi and Hindi they would support Marathi on that matter. I can understand that, but why not speak in Marathi? I am pretty sure that both of them can communicate better in their native language than in any other.

However, this is not an isolated case, there are many people like them. I have encountered many people with the same tendencies. They rather speak in some other language than Marathi, even in a situation when it is their native language. On the other hand I have also met people who are adamant on speaking in Marathi with Marathi speakers even though they are non-native speakers of that language; and in some cases they speak in Marathi with non-Marathi speakers also.

I would also like to inform all of you that I was fortunate enough to meet people who spoke Marathi as their native language even though they were non-Marathi. I know one family which migrated from Andhra Pradesh to Mumbai. The parents can speak in Telugu but all three of their children communicate in Marathi with their parents. After immigrating to Mumbai, these people learned Marathi and only spoke in Marathi. Thats the reason their children never learned Telugu. They were surrounded by Marathi culture and language from all sides. Their parents and they themselves also watch Marathi channels as Marathi speakers would do. I am really proud of them. They are role-models of cultural assimilation. They are real Marathi people.

This is exactly what we want. Complete assimilation of immigrants. Its not that we hate immigrants, the only problem is that we want them to assimilate into Marathi language and culture, but unfortunately they don't. This is mostly caused by the fact that the Hindi speakers think that since Hindi is the Official Language of the Union, they are not supposed to learn the language of the region they live in. They think that as everyone learns Hindi and speaks it, they have no responsibility of learning the regional language. I vehemently counter this argument. Why is it thought that non-Hindi speaker are obligated to learn Hindi since they are living in India and Hindi is the official language of the country. Is this not one form discrimination against non-Hindi speakers. The Non-Hindi speakers are forced to learns Hindi while the Hindi speaker never learn any of the regional languages of India. The Union Government has found a Sanskrit as a scapegoat for this problem. They have introduced Sanskrit as one of the optional languages; and in some cases the only option is Hindi or Sanskrit. This places the Hindi speakers at a comfortable position. They are speared of the burden of learning an extra language, since the learn Sanskrit and are not supposed to learn any other language except English.

Do think on this matter people.
I hope Marathi speakers are awakened.