Raipur, July 01 (H.S.): Central Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale arrived in Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh, on Tuesday morning. During a media interaction at Swami Vivekananda Airport in Mana, Raipur, when asked about the ongoing language dispute in Maharashtra, Athawale said there was a dispute over the three-language policy formula in Maharashtra. Hindi has always been our national language and we respect it, but some people argued that there is no need to teach any other language in Marathi schools. The Marathi people opposed this. However, the government of Devendra Fadnavis had canceled the decision to make Hindi mandatory before any movement. He suggested that Hindi should be implemented in schools, but priority should be given to the regional language from class one to six.
The central minister also responded to the issue of caste census and targeted the Congress Party. He said that the job of the Congress Party is to make sarcastic remarks, and their intentions are not right.
Historic decisions regarding caste census have been taken under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He criticized Congress by stating that the demand for this has been raised for a long time, but why did they not take any decision when they were in power? Regarding the issue of religious conversion, Minister Athawale said that conversion under pressure and inducement is not right. If someone wishes to do it voluntarily, they have the right, but if it is happening under pressure, it should be stopped, and a thorough investigation should be conducted. In reference to the visit of BJP's fact-finding committee to West Bengal, Athawale stated that cases of atrocities are continuously increasing there. He claimed that in the upcoming elections, Mamata Banerjee will be ousted in Bengal and a BJP government will be formed.
Responding to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge's proposed visit to Chhattisgarh on July 7, Athawale said that everyone has the right to hold meetings in a democracy. Kharge is from our society and is welcome.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Indrani Sarkar
