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Video: MNS Men Thrash Sweet Shop Owner in Mira Bhayander For Speaking Hindi, Demand Marathi


Seven unknown men were booked by the Kashimira police in Mira Road on Tuesday. They are suspected to be MNS members. These men beat up a sweet shop owner because he did not speak in Marathi. A video of the incident quickly went viral on social media. It shows an argument breaking out, after which one of the men begins assaulting the shop owner. Moments later, another man wearing an MNS party stole is seen repeatedly hitting the shop owner’s face. An FIR was lodged based on the video. The complainant, sweet shop owner Babulal Khimji Chaudhary (48), said a few men came to his store around 10.30 a.m. asking for water. He said they were sporting MNS signs on their clothes.

The shop owner said that they made a video of this and recorded the assault and then shared the video over social media. “I had told them that my workers are from other states and not fluent in Marathi, but they insisted that all should know Marathi in Maharashtra,” Babulal Khimji Chaudhary added. In the FIR, Chaudhary said that the men got more furious when he replied that all languages are spoken in Maharashtra after they asked him which language was spoken in Maharashtra.

Language Row In Maharashtra

The Raj Thackeray-led party has been at the forefront of the campaign against the implementation of the three-language policy in Maharashtra schools, which is part of the National Education Policy. The MNS and the faction of the Shiv Sena led by Mr Thackeray’s cousin, Uddhav Thackeray, had also planned a massive protest against the three-language policy in Mumbai on Saturday.

On Sunday, however, the Devendra Fadnavis-led government in the state cancelled two resolutions on the policy and said that a panel will help decide its future. 

 “We have decided that a committee will be formed under the leadership of educationist Dr Narendra Jadhav to determine from which standard the languages should be implemented, how the implementation should take place, and what choices should be given to students. Based on the report submitted by this committee, the state government will make a final decision on the implementation of the three-language policy,” Mr Fadnavis had said.

The Thackeray cousins announced on Tuesday that they would hold a rally to celebrate “Marathi Vijay Diwas” on Saturday, the day their protest was originally scheduled. The event will see the cousins appearing together at a political event for the first time in almost two decades.