Communication or Control? How Marathi Asmita Is Slowly Shifting from a Symbol of Identity to a Source of Pressure for Many

You know how every state has its thing? In Maharashtra, it's all about Marathi Asmita. Basically, Marathi pride. For decades, this has been what binds people together here.

Back in 1966, Bal Thackeray started Shiv Sena with one simple idea: stick up for the Marathi Manus. That's what they call Marathi people. His whole pitch was that locals were getting pushed around, losing jobs to outsiders, and their language was getting sidelined. So he made it his mission to put Marathi first. What started as a way to protect Marathi identity has slowly turned into a tool often used by politicians to secure votes and assert dominance in the name of culture. In one recent event, workers of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) assaulted someone for not speaking Marathi.

"Don't understand Marathi? You'll get slapped", Raj Thackeray warns non-locals

The MNS workers accused him of insulting Maharashtra's language and cultural identity. A video of the confrontation has since gone viral on social media. What was once seen as a form of protection has now become a way of domination. This incident was a true reminder of how cultural identity is being used as a tool for asserting power and also raises serious concerns about the safety and dignity of immigrants in the state of Maharashtra.

There's a long history of political parties using cultural identity to secure vote banks, a strategy clearly seen in states like Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. In West Bengal, parties like the Trinamool Congress have used Bengali cultural identity and festivals to connect with voters, especially in response to national-level narratives.

This same strategy is now being used in Maharashtra, where parties like the MNS, Shiv Sena, and even the BJP are increasingly using Marathi Asmita as a political tool, but to what extent? While language politics takes center stage, real and pressing issues like farmer suicides, rising unemployment, and inflation are being sidelined. Political discourse has shifted from addressing these critical problems to symbolic identity battles.Then came the Hindi controversy.

The MNS assaulting people for not talking in Marathi

The Fadnavis government tried to push through NEP 2020's three-language formula, making Hindi mandatory in Maharashtra schools alongside Marathi and English. People weren't having it. Protests erupted across the state. Here's where it got interesting. Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray, who usually can't stand each other, suddenly found themselves on the same side. Both started talking about protecting Marathi pride and how outsiders were trying to impose their language on Maharashtra. Classic politics, really.The government realized they'd stirred up a hornets' nest.

After weeks of backlash, they quietly dropped the Hindi requirement. Schools can still teach three languages if they want, but nobody's forcing Hindi down anyone's throat anymore.

Most people saw this as the state standing up to Delhi, which felt good for about five minutes until everyone remembered that unemployment is still rising and farmers are still struggling.

That's the problem; politicians focus more on territorialism rather than the real issues. If the real issues would have been put in focus, then Maharashtra wouldn't have been dug up the way it is now.