केंद्र जल्द ही मराठी को ‘शास्त्रीय भाषा’ का दर्जा देगा मराठी भाषा मंत्री, सुभाष देसाई- फोटो दलीप कुमार

New Delhi, 21: “Marathi Language qualifies all parameters as required for accordance of classical status, and the Union Government will accord the classical Language Status to Marathi sooner, expressed the State Language Minister, Subhash Desai.  He was in the Capital to meet the Union Culture Minister, G. Kishan Reddy.

The Minister met Union Minister G Kishan Reddy in Delhi at Transport Bhawan, with a demand to grant classical language status to Marathi.  Principal Secretary for Marathi Language, Bhushan Gagrani, Eminent Marathi writer and Director, Shrirang Godbole and other Senior officers were present.

Shri Desai urged the Union Minister to accord classical status to Marathi in the wake of ‘Marathi Bhasha Gaurav Din’ which is celebrated on February 27th every year. This day is celebrated in the honour and birth anniversary of eminent veteran Litterateur, Shri Vi.Va. Shirwadkar. Shri Desai deliberated on the issue and urged the Union Minister to accord Classical Status to Marathi Language, as it complies and fulfils all the required parameters and criteria for any language to be accorded a Classical Language status. During this meeting, the State Minister also invited Shri Reddy to Mumbai and announce the same on February 27th. Adding further, he said that, this announcement will infuse happiness across the state having 13 crore population.
The Union Minister assured that the process is under active consideration and a positive decision in this regards will be announced sooner. Shri Desai underlined that the State Government is pursuing for this issue since 2013. The Literature Academy and the linguistic expert committee accepted that it is appropriate to bestow Marathi Language with the classical language status, he added further.

The Union Minister assured that a positive decision in this matter will be taken by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi and Home Minister, Shri Amit Shah. Adding further, he said that the Union Government is very positive to grant Classical Status to Marathi.

After this meeting, Shri Desai held a meeting with all the representatives of the Marathi Mandals located in Delhi and NCR region and various eminent Marathi personalities putting up in Delhi. As short film on ‘Shantata ! Marathiche Court Suru Aahe’ was presented during this time.  The Minister sought various suggestions from them to expedite this proposal.

Immediately after, Shri Desai addressed a press conference and informed the media persons about the deliberations held during the meeting. He informed that so far only six languages have been bestowed with this status officially – Sanskrit, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu and Odiya based on various parameters. He further added that, a high-level Committee of language experts was appointed under Shri Rangnath Pathare, a senior Marathi litterateur.  He added, ‘Marathi is not only an ancient language but also the state language, used by litterateurs, intellectuals, by people of common masses and ranks among the major languages in the world, added the Minister.

The move came a day after Maharashtra the Chief Minister, Shri Uddhav Thackeray dispatched a second set of postcards to President Ramnath Kovind seeking classical language status for Marathi under the JanAbhiyan drive initiated in the State. A total of 1,20,000 postcards have been sent to the President so far.