Hooliganism in the name of Marathi will not be tolerated

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has strongly condemned the recent attack on a shopkeeper in Thane by members of Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). He termed the incident as a case of hooliganism in the name of language and promised strict legal action. Reacting to the incident, Chief Minister Fadnavis gave a strong message saying that it is not wrong to be proud of Marathi language in Maharashtra. But if someone does hooliganism due to language, we will not tolerate it. If someone beats up people on the basis of language, it will not be tolerated. Fadnavis confirmed that the police have taken action by registering an FIR and warned of strict consequences if such incidents happen again. The Chief Minister said that we are proud of our Marathi, but no language of India can be treated unfairly like this, we have to keep this in mind. And sometimes I wonder why these people embrace English and create controversy over Hindi. What kind of thinking is this and what kind of act is this? Therefore, strict action will be taken against those who take the law into their own hands. The incident came to light after a video went viral on July 1, showing MNS workers confronting and attacking a sweet shop owner because he allegedly refused to speak in Marathi. The disturbing footage shows three men entering the shop and asking the shopkeeper about his language preference. When asked why he was not speaking Marathi, the shopkeeper calmly replied, “I did not know that speaking Marathi is compulsory. Someone will have to teach me.” One of the men then warned him, “Will you get maar khaayega?” following which he launched a violent attack. The attackers slapped the shopkeeper multiple times, abused him and threatened to shut down his business. When the shopkeeper replied that all languages ​​are spoken in Maharashtra, the attackers’ rage further flared up.