A restaurant owner in Mumbai's Mira Road area was slapped multiple times by furious Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) workers for not speaking in Marathi.
Three MNS workers confronted the restaurant owner, questioning him on why he was not speaking in Marathi. A video of the altercation has gone viral on social media, sparking outrage and debate.
The restaurant owner initially calmly responded by saying, "I didn’t know Marathi was compulsory. Someone will have to teach me." This statement reportedly aggravated the MNS worker, who replied, “This is Maharashtra… which state are you working in?” to which the owner responded, "Maharashtra."
The situation escalated when the MNS worker then asked, “What language is spoken in Maharashtra?” and the owner casually replied, “All languages are spoken in Maharashtra.” At that point, the worker lost his temper and slapped the restaurant owner multiple times -in full public view.
While some support the need to preserve Marathi as the local language, others condemned the use of violence to impose it.
Police have taken note of the incident, and further investigation is underway. No official complaint had been filed at the time of writing.
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