'The government has shown no vision to promote Marathi language and as a result we do not have effective standardisation,' said Aroon Tikekar, a former newspaper editor.
Tamilian star Kamal Hassan recently expressed a desire to act in a Marathi film. “Marathi culture is as old and important as Tamil culture. It is a bigger state too. It is a pity they have given up their culture to Hindi cinema. I don’t know why they don’t have the vernacular pride that Tamilians have,” he said.
Kamal Hassan was echoing the sentiment of many Marathi language backers. “The government has shown no vision to promote Marathi language and as a result we do not have effective standardisation,” said Aroon Tikekar, a former newspaper editor.
“The basic failure of the government to make Marathi compulsory has created this problem.”
Politicisation of the Marathi issue in recent times has drawn attention but critics feels the language needs to be vibrant with modern nuances and references, which can only happen in an open-minded environment. “Language grows with the progress of one’s society and economy. This has not been happening with our Marathi language for many years,” says Nilu Damle, an author.
“We have failed to make Marathi a business language. See the Gujaratis, they conduct businesses in their language; we don’t,” said Ratnakar Matkari, playwright. Harish Vardhe, a BMMS student, explains the dilemma youngsters face when they use Marathi. “We mix English and some street Hindi language when we speak in Marathi today. That is a lot easier to speak than the puritan language that our grandparents spoke.”
The Marathi Abhyas Kendra is one centre that has been working with the government to initiate some concrete policy measures. Its director Deepak Pawar says that efforts have been made to make terminology in Marathi for many subjects but a lack of policy has deterred these efforts. “In 1995, scholars in physics wrote terminology for students in Marathi. However, these are lying in piles of dust because the government has no policy for higher education in Marathi. The government has failed to make Marathi a knowledge language, and till that happens the debate on this subject will continue,” says Pawar.
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