The Maharashtra government has now sparked a new controversy by making it mandatory for applicants for taxi permits in the state to know Marathi and be residents of the state for at least 15 years.

- Jillian D'silva
January 22, 2010

The Maharashtra government has been following Article 345 of the Constitution, promoting Marathi as the official language for the state. But in recent years, politics over language and ethnic identities has consumed the state after Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) launched a violent political campaign against migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in 2008.

And now, Maharashtra's Congress-NCP government on Wednesday stoked a new controversy involving identity politics by mandating that all applicants for new taxi permits should know to read and write Marathi, besides reaffirming an existing rule that they also have to have been residents of the state for at least 15 years. Although the decision applies to the entire state, it is seen as mostly relevant to the capital, Mumbai, where the government has allowed 55,000 taxis to operate in various categories, including the ubiquitous black-and-yellow Premier Padminis or Fiats which have long been icons of the city. A majority of these ordinary taxis are known to be driven by migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, who were at the receiving end of an anti-migrant campaign by Raj Thackeray.

However, after receiving heat for his government's decision to give licenses only to those taxi drivers who know Marathi, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan later backtracked, saying cab drivers should know any local language including Hindi and Gujarati.

Chavan insisted the government’s decision was not related to any language. "The Cabinet has gone by the Maharashtra Motor Vehicles rules, which were framed in 1989. As per that rule, for a person to have a (taxi) permit, 15 years of domicile is compulsory," Chavan said, justifying his government's decision. "And the second rule says that for a taxi badge for a driver, working knowledge of local language is necessary. The local language can be Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati - it can include anything. The knowledge of the local language is necessary."

Chavan's latest statement was an obvious U-turn from his previous statement. His explanation didn't succeed in pacifying politicians in North India, particularly Bihar. Expressing his apparent displeasure at the Congress-NCP led Maharaashtra government's decision, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Chief Lalu Prasad said, "The Congress government in Maharashtra was going the way of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena of Raj Thackeray.

Lalu alleged that the decision was aimed at harassing the hardworking people from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh who had made the city their home. "The Congress government in Maharashtra is authoritarian, regional and parochial. It has exposed itself by its latest decision," the former Railway Minister said.

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushil Kumar Modi said the Maharashtra government's decision was against the Constitution. "It is nothing but a conspiracy to torture Hindi-speaking north Indian taxi drivers in Mumbai," the BJP leader said.

Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan said, "A state government cannot stop any one from working on basis of language and domicile status. It is in bad taste."

But even as the Chavan government went on the backfoot on the issue of making it mandatory for applicants for new taxi permits to know Marathi, the Opposition Shiv Sena-BJP turned the heat on the present relaxation of the rules. Meanwhile, MNS chief Raj Thackeray demanded that the taxi permits be given to Marathi youth only, and threatened that otherwise none of the new taxis would be allowed to ply.

Shiv Sena group leader in the Assembly, Subhash Desai, attacked the "dithering" of the state government and said the Sena would take matters into its hand and force the Congress-NCP to ensure that only locals got new taxi permits. He threatened that they would scout for those who had been issued the new permits and check whether they had domicile certificates and whether they could read and write Marathi. Accusing Chavan of backing out of his original decision after opposition from some quarters, Desai said it was necessary for the state government to stand by its original decision.

If it wasn't enough that the country is already divided on religious lines, politicians are out to divide it further divide it by playing the language card. Sooner, if not later, this prejudiced attitude of our supposed leaders is going to drive our country off the cliff, to the point of no return!!