MUMBAI: The BJP rushed to the defence of the state government over its decision to introduce Hindi as an optional language for Classes 1 to 5 after the Thackeray cousins announced their decision to hold a joint morcha against “imposition” of Hindi in state schools.CM Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said Marathi is compulsory, Hindi is optional. “Basically, students can learn any Indian language. We have accepted the three-language policy. When NE was introduced, the Uddhav Thackeray govt was in office. An 18-member committee was set up to study the policy, and in 2021 the Thackeray govt accepted it and further action was taken on it. In this report, it was clearly mentioned that along with Marathi, Hindi and English be made compulsory. Will you consider Mashelkar, Bhalchandra Mungekar, Sukhdev Thorat, who submitted this report, anti-Maharashtra? We allowed all languages,” he said.