Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday climbed down from his earlier position about teaching Hindi language compulsorily in all schools of the state by dismissing concerns about “imposition” of Hindi language, claiming that only Marathi will be taught compulsorily in schools.

He clarified that class 1 students would now have the option to choose other languages instead of Hindi.

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However, a Maharashtra government resolution issued by the Maharashtra state government on April 17 had made Hindi a compulsory third language for classes 1 to 5 from the 2026-27 academic year, adding that the new syllabus complying with the National Education Policy would be implemented from the current academic year.

“It is wrong to say that attempts are being made to impose Hindi. Marathi will be compulsory in Maharashtra. There will be no other compulsion. Hindi language is not compulsory,” Fadnavis told reporters in Pune on Sunday, hours after the language advisory committee of the state’s Marathi Language Department appealed to him to revoke the government’s decision mandating Hindi as a compulsory third language for students from class 1 to 5.

Fadnavis also said that “I am surprised that we oppose Indian languages like Hindi and sing the praises of English. We carry English on our shoulders. We should also think about why we feel English is close and Indian languages are far away”.

The climb down by Fadnavis came shortly after practically every opposition party in Maharashtra criticised the move to teach Hindi in all schools of Maharashtra right from class one. The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena announced that it will not allow the Fadnavis government to teach Hindi compulsorily in schools from class one, while the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) led by Raj Thackeray, began agitating against the move and even put up banners against the move, after threatening an agitation.

The Congress alleged that making Hindi compulsory is a ploy to destroy the Marathi language, identity and culture. The Sharad Pawar-led NCP warned that sidelining Marathi under the garb of the New Education Policy would not be tolerated, while the Maharashtra state unit of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) threatened to launch an agitation.

The issue practically made both estranged cousins Uddhav Thackeray who leads the Shiv Sena and Raj Thackeray who leads the MNS to bury their personal as well as political differences and jointly oppose Hindi imposition over Maharashtra.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra state’s language consultation committee chairman Lakshmikant Deshmukh wrote a letter to the government that the decision to make Hindi compulsory from class one, along with Marathi and English, would burden primary school students. Copies of the letter have been sent to Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, as well as the Minister for Marathi language Uday Samant, Deshmukh said.

“No language has been made compulsory in the National Education Policy. On the contrary, the NEP states that education should be imparted through the mother tongue. Therefore, making Hindi mandatory as a third language is not right,” the letter stated. Deshmukh’s letter said that the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) failed to consult the Maharashtra state language advisory committee before finalising the language policy.

The committee which comprises linguists, language scholars, and academicians, stated that the compulsory introduction of Hindi at this level is educationally unsound, the letter mentioned.

“Teaching Hindi as a third language from Class 1 is unnecessary and contradicts all established principles of educational and child psychology. Hence, as a language advisory committee, we have formally requested the chief minister to reconsider this decision and withdraw the mandate to avoid overburdening students,” Deshmukh said.

Earlier, the Marathi Abhyas Kendra, Maharashtra State Secondary and Higher Secondary Principals’ Association, Amhi Shikshak Social Organisation, Maharashtra State Education Institutions Mahamandal, Maharashtra Progressive Teachers’ Association, as well as Maharashtra State Art Teachers Association had written to the Maharashtra school education minister requesting him to withdraw the decision.

Senior educationist and member of the state-level steering committee formed for quality and effective implementation, Ramesh Panse, has also supported this letter.

In their letter, these organisations stated that Hindi should be made compulsory in Maharashtra only after North Indian states start teaching Marathi or a Dravidian (South Indian) language. “We feel that North Indians need to learn Marathi more than Maharashtrians need to learn Hindi,” the letter stated.

The Marathi Ekikaran Samiti has also strongly opposed this decision, saying Hindi is not the national language and its compulsion is linguistic imperialism.

The compulsion about teaching a third language in schools is an injustice to students, it said.