‘Speak Marathi’: Raj Thackeray's MNS workers slap restaurant owner - Video from Mira Road goes viral

A worker of Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) allegedly assaulted an elderly North Indian restaurant owner on Mumbai's Mira Road for not speaking in Marathi, reigniting the language debate.

The video of the assault has gone viral on social media.

In the viral video, three men, allegedly MNS workers, are seen engaging in a heated debate with the owner. As their argument gets more frenzied, the men begin slapping the vendor.

Watch the viral video here:

Here's what happened:

In the viral video, one of the MNS workers can be seen asking the owner why he was questioning the need to speak in the local language.

“Why should we speak in Marathi?” the owner had asked.

Soon after, another party worker interrupted and said, “Maar khayaga?”

The owner can be heard saying that he doesn't know Marathi.

The MNS workers then asked the vendor if he knew the state he was working in and the language spoken there.

The owner quipped, “All languages are spoken here.”

This agitated the MNS workers, who repeatedly slapped and abused him.

‘Hindi cannot be placed above Marathi’: MNS chief Raj Thackeray

MNS chief Raj Thackeray had recently said that attempts to place Hindi above Marathi, which is an older language, will not be tolerated.

He said this while opposing the “imposition of Hindi” as a third language for primary classes in Maharashtra schools.

“People are trying to make the 150 to 200-year-old Hindi language appear superior to Marathi, which has a history of over 3,000 years. This is unacceptable, and I will not allow it,” Thackeray said.

He questioned the legitimacy of branding Hindi as a national language in a country with such linguistic diversity. “Hindi is not the rashtra bhasha (national language) to be imposed on other states. This kind of coercion is not right.”

Facing mounting opposition to the introduction of Hindi language in Maharashtra schools from classes 1 to 5, the state cabinet on Sunday decided to withdraw two GRs (government orders) on the implementation of the three-language policy.