Mumbai, Aug 28: Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Friday said that cancellation of the licenses of auto-rickshaw and taxi drivers operating in Maharashtra for not knowing Marathi would be "unconstitutional", and there should be no pressure to learn the language.
"How can one issue a fatwa to cancel a license for not knowing Marathi?" he asked, speaking to PTI Videos a day after the Maharashtra government granted one-year reprieve to migrant drivers from the compulsion to know basic Marathi.
Athawale noted that 60 per cent of the non-Marathi population (in Mumbai) had voted for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) which brought it to power.
Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik had come out with a "fatwa" that non-Marathi auto-rickshaw and taxi drivers must learn Marathi or their licenses will be cancelled, he said.
"We do not oppose the decision, everyone should know Marathi, but cancelation of license...is against the Constitution and unjust. Mumbai is the economic capital of India and everyone can come here," the Union Minister of State for Social Justice said.
"(Chief Minister Devendra) Fadnavis has extended the period for learning Marathi, but I still feel that it is not right to put so much pressure (to learn the language)," Athawale further said.
The Transport Ministry headed by Shiv Sena leader Sarnaik had announced in April that auto-rickshaw and taxi drivers must have basic knowledge of Marathi, and set a deadline of August 15 to comply with the rule.
After taxi and auto-rickshaw unions opposed the decision, Chief Minister Fadnavis on Thursday announced that the state government would give migrant drivers one year to learn the state's primary language and would not take any action for non-compliance during this period.
