3 min readMay 2, 2026 06:45 AM IST First published on: May 2, 2026 at 06:45 AM ISTDays after announcing its ill-conceived decision to make basic Marathi-language proficiency mandatory for all auto and taxi drivers from May 1, the Maharashtra government extended the deadline to August 15. The move is a minor concession, coming after auto and taxi unions objected to the arbitrariness of the announcement. It does little to undo the irrationality and constitutionally tenuous grounds of the original decision, which, if implemented, would see the licences of a large number of non-compliant drivers cancelled. At a time when public transport is plagued by more pressing issues such as affordability and accessibility, the easy resort to narrow linguistic politics is troubling.In conditioning livelihoods on Marathi-language proficiency, the Maharashtra government’s decision erects an informal barrier against internal migrants — the very people who sustain urban economies like Mumbai’s. Such measures weaken the idea of the nation as a shared civic space and undermine the constitutional promise of freedom of mobility, which gives citizens the right to reside and settle in any part of India and practise any profession or occupation there. It is also bad economics, subverting the spirit of a unified market, where labour mobility is essential for efficiency and growth. Urban transport systems, moreover, depend on flexibility, scale, and the willingness of workers to migrate where opportunities exist. A driver from Uttar Pradesh or Bihar should not find their dignity or employability contingent on linguistic assimilation.AdvertisementMaharashtra has a long history of language being weaponised for narrow political ends. Over the last year, for example, following the Devendra Fadnavis administration’s oscillation on the three-language policy — first making Hindi mandatory at the primary-school level, then making it optional — the Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena raised the pitch on the “imposition” of Hindi and cast themselves as the protectors of Marathi pride. The tactics used by the Raj Thackeray-led MNS — slapping bank officials for not offering services in Marathi, for instance — have underlined how easily parochialism can slip into violence. The language mandate to auto and taxi drivers may come with the state’s imprimatur, but the same insular impulse drives both. Those most vulnerable to the violence of the hooligan and the capriciousness of the state are inevitably the ones with the least social and economic protections, such as migrant workers. The choice before policymakers is stark: Pursue inclusive growth anchored in constitutional freedoms, or indulge parochial impulses that subvert that purpose. Maharashtra’s language mandate, in both principle and effect, leans dangerously toward the latter.