Hyderabad, April 7 -- Though Maharashtra is officially a Marathi-speaking state, has a Marathi majority population, the state government does its business in that language, Marathi, suddenly took the centre stage. Of the three rival Senas, two - Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena - are actively promoting the language in diverse ways.. Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena is quiet about it.

Raj Thackeray had asked during his annual speech to cadre that they should find out if the banks in the state were using Marathi in their functioning, including signage and indoor boards guiding customers. The cadre found a few banks and asked them to ensure the usage, but the interface between the bank officials and the...