MUMBAI: In a state where Marathi proficiency is projected as a marker of cultural identity, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar sparked a controversy on Wednesday by fumbling through a Marathi condolence motion for legendary playback singer Asha Bhosle.
Narvekar apologised in the House for mistakes in his Marathi pronunciation. Explaining the lapse, Narvekar said the errors occurred due to the small font size and technical typing errors in the text provided to him. He added that there were 10 condolence motions to be read that day, leaving little time to go through each text beforehand. “If my poor reading of Marathi has hurt the sentiments of anyone, then I sincerely apologise,” he said.
MNS chief Raj Thackeray, took a swipe at Narvekar and said that he was not reading a condolence message for Bhosle but a condolence message for the Marathi language itself.
Thackeray said that Narvekar could have chosen to read in another language, but should not have “killed” Marathi. He added that better was expected from a person occupying such a high constitutional office.
On social media, Narvekar faced flak over his command of Marathi, his careless reading and what many described as a casual approach towards the language. Several users pointed to the government’s push to make Marathi compulsory for non-Marathi auto-rickshaw and taxi drivers, arguing that those presiding over the state’s highest legislative institution should first demonstrate proficiency in the language.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Ajay Chaudhari said, “It exposes our policy on the Marathi language. We have failed to inculcate a proper culture of Marathi reading and writing in the state.”