'Must speak Marathi in Maharashtra': Minister defends MNS workers for assaulting shopkeeper

Days after members of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) assaulted a Thane shopkeeper for not speaking in Marathi, Maharashtra Minister Yogesh Kadam has come out in support of the party workers.

While speaking to the press on Thursday, Kadam defended the action of the workers and said, "In Maharashtra, you have to speak Marathi. If you don't know Marathi, your attitude shouldn't be that you won't speak Marathi. If anyone disrespects Marathi in Maharashtra, we will enforce our laws."

However, he also reprimanded them for taking the 'law' in their own hands. "They should have filed a complaint against the concerned person; action would have been taken," he said.

Video of a food stall owner being assaulted by workers of the MNS party went viral on Tuesday.

While purchasing food, one of the them asked the stall owner to speak in Marathi, to which he questioned them back.

This annoyed the man, who shouted at the stall owner. Some others who were with the man joined him and slapped the stall owner, a police official said.

Based on the stall owner's complaint, the Kashimira police registered an FIR against unidentified persons under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and a probe was on into the case, the official said.

This incident comes on the heels of an ongoing language debate that has engulfed the state of Maharashtra. Recently, the Devendra Fadnavis-led government implemented a government resolution (GR) mandating the introduction of Hindi language in state schools from classes 1 to 5.

However, they received intense backlash from the opposition and had to retract the GR.

(with PTI inputs)