A bid to link out-of-state Maharashtrians

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to take an initiative to connect Maharashtrian people living in other states to the Marathi language and culture. The civic body will soon prepare guidelines in this regard.

According to civic officials, the help of the All India Institute of Self-Governance (AIISG), which co-ordinates between all municipal corporations and local civic bodies in the country, would be sought. “Through this organisation, information will be collected about cities, where Marathi-speaking people are living in large numbers. To establish contact with these cities, policy and guidelines will soon be prepared,” said an official from the protocol and liaison department of the BMC.

On the lines of ‘sister city’ relations with international cities, Shiv Sena had demanded the BMC should develop friendly relations with cities in other states, so Marathi speakers settled there are not alienated from their culture and language. The move will help them to protect their Maharashtrian identity, the party said.

Yashodhar Phanse, Shiv Sena corporator and group leader in the civic body, had moved a notice of motion in the civic general body meeting saying that the BMC should develop sister city relations with other Indian cities. There are several cities like Baroda, Surat, Indore, Bhopal, Gwalior and Varanasi, where Marathi-speaking people live in large numbers.

Mr Phanse had said, “During the times of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and later Peshwas, plenty of Marathi-speaking people migrated to other parts of the country, where Marathas were ruling. During the British era too, there were many princely states in the country, of which several of them belonged to Maharashtrians. Even today, a large number of Marathi-speaking people live in various other states. However, being made to deal with the official languages of those particular states, they are losing their touch with Marathi language and culture. Being alienated from Marathi language, festivals and traditions, the Marathi culture in these states is gradually diminishing. There is a need to consolidate their connection with the Marathi language and Maharashtra.”

Mumbai has established sister city relations with several major cities in the world, through which ties in culture, literature and other fields have been developed. On these lines, it should also develop relations with other Indian cities, where Marathi people live in large numbers, he added.