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Speaking exclusively to IANS, Sarnaik stressed that this language should be taught to drivers with love and not by using violence. Trying to get results through violence, intimidation or lathicharge will only scare the poor and drive them away, and will also anger 98 percent of the population. There should be no politics of language. We must love, respect and carry forward the Marathi identity. No one in this country has the right to forcefully impose anything on people and we strongly oppose such methods.

He said 20,000 auto-rickshaw drivers in Borivali and Dahisar were honored after learning Marathi language and another program would be organized on September 12 to honor 7,000 others.

The minister said that if someone talks to me in Hindi, I also talk to them in the same language. We can make rules for auto-rickshaw and taxi drivers. But we cannot force any actor, cricketer or common passerby to speak in Marathi. We can only request them to do so.

The minister stressed on giving equal importance to all communities in the state. He said, “Almost 50 per cent of the people in my own constituency are Hindi speaking. I have the same relationship with them as I have with Marathi people. Despite being a Marathi leader, we have built ‘North Bharatiya Bhavan’ and even ‘Maithili Samaj Bhavan’ and ‘Rajasthani Samaj Bhavan’.”

He made it clear that the issue of speaking in Marathi was raised not just for the language, but for the identity of the state and Marathi culture. However, he also said that I do not work for Hindi-speaking or Marathi-speaking votes. I go to the constituency with the issue of development.

He stressed that the vote bank of Maharashtra does not belong to any one party. Marathi voters are divided among all the parties. They are also in different factions of Congress, BJP, Shiv Sena, UBT faction, MNS and RPI.

Sarnaik also talked about the controversy surrounding a viral video of the recent ‘Dahi-Handi’ event in Mumbai.

The controversy started when the minister asked actor Sanjay Dutt to speak in Marathi during the ‘Dahi-Handi’ programme, to which he replied, “I spent six years in Yerwada jail, yet I could not learn Marathi.”

The minister said that many guests including Sunil Shetty, Sanjay Dutt, Suryakumar Yadav and singer Badshah attended the event. They all spoke in Marathi. Sanjay Dutt greeted the audience in Marathi. Later, he jokingly told me, ‘Pratap Bhai, I can speak only so much Marathi. I spent many years in jail but could not learn Marathi, yet today you made me learn this language. This should have been a matter of pride. But only that thing went viral in which he said that despite being in jail, he could not learn Marathi.

The minister claimed that no one paid attention to Sunil Shetty’s point that it is necessary to learn Marathi to live and work in Mumbai as it is a beautiful language. No one paid attention to Suryakumar Yadav speaking in Marathi or Badshah singing in Marathi. Instead of focusing on those positive moments, only Sanjay Dutt’s time in jail and the clip of me making him call Marathi were highlighted.