Set up Marathi varsity in Nagpur, says Sabnis

Nagpur: President of 89th Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan, Shripal Sabnis, has renewed the Marathi litterateurs’ decades-old demand for setting up a separate, dedicated University for Marathi language. He has written to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis suggesting such a university should ideally be set up in Nagpur or some place in Vidarbha.
The Marathi writer from Pune said by establishing the University in Nagpur/Vidarbha, at least the cultural backlog of the region would be erased. Admitting that the demand for separate Vidarbha being raised for years was manifestation of the perception that injustice was done to the region, he said all political parties and politicians of Western Maharashtra were responsible for it.
“I personally believe splitting of the state would be a disregard to the supreme sacrifice of 105 people who lost their lives during the Samyukta Maharashtra movement,” Sabnis said adding the state should on priority remove developmental backlog of Vidarbha and other backward regions. Sabnis had helmed the Marathi literary summit held at Pimpri-Chinchwad earlier this year.
When asked about suicide and deaths of thousands of farmers in Vidarbha since irrigation projects have remained on paper, Sabnis parried the question and said it was time to forget the past and make a new beginning. “Already there is a demand that it should be set up in Nashik, but I have written to the government that Nagpur would be a better location,” he said. He added the language was suffering as there were few translations into Marathi from world literature. Only a dedicated University could raise the literary standards, he stated.
Just before the Sammelan held in January, Sabnis was in headlines for making uncharitable remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ‘intolerance’ spreading in the country. The summit could be held only after he withdrew his remarks and expressed regrets.
However, in a volte face, Sabnis said now he found nothing wrong with Modi and was in fact all praise for him for spreading the philosophy of Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi during his foreign tours. “As a prime minister, he (Modi) is doing a great job by building India’s image abroad,” he said.