Mumbai, Apr 19 (PTI) Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday asserted that his party will not allow making Hindi compulsory in Maharashtra after the state government decided to make Hindi a mandatory third language for students of classes 1 to 5.

Addressing an event of the Bharatiya Kamgar Sena, the workers’ wing of the Shiv Sena (UBT), Thackeray said his party has no aversion to the Hindi language but asked why it is being forced.

His remarks come amid the opposition’s outcry over the Maharashtra government’s decision to make Hindi a mandatory third language for students of Classes 1 to 5 in Marathi and English-medium schools across the state, in a departure from the practice of studying two languages. PTI PR NSK