DesiPundit

Sunil argues that Marathi holds a precarious position in Mumbai due to the fact that political parties try to force feed it to the public

The official argument of the Marathi propagating parties is that all residents of Mumbai are guilty of ignoring this language and must be taught to to “respect” it - by being slapped around if necessary. [....] But how much enthusiasm can you generate for a language by slapping people around? Indeed, what image do you give to the language by this behaviour?

Personally, I am surprised to see that Bombayites still feel the pinch of the language’s existence. You can get by in the city without knowing a word of Marathi, or for that matter even Hindi. But I agree with Sunil when he says that Marathi could be made more appealing to the general public by severing it from political parties.