India, April 21 -- The threat of electoral irrelevance seems to have forced the estranged Thackeray cousins, Raj and Uddhav, to explore working together. The reason cited is the decision of the Mahayuti government to make Hindi the compulsory third language in primary schools in Maharashtra. People in Maharashtra have a history of responding to linguistic nationalism - an underlying impulse of the Samyukta Maharashtra Movement was a political identity derived from solidarity centred on Marathi language. Importantly, the Shiv Sena's rise was enabled by the emergence of a cultural sentiment rooted in linguistic pride. Language politics, shepherded by the DMK government in Tamil Nadu, has re-emerged as a pivotal force in Opposition politics. Regionalism, through the privileging of local language and culture, is being seen by many parties as a countervailing force against the unitarian politics of the BJP....