MIRA-BHAYANDAR: Seven unidentified people suspected to be members of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) have been booked by the Kashimira police station in Mira Road on Tuesday for thrashing a sweet shop owner for not speaking in Marathi. A video of the incident has gone viral.In the FIR, the complainant, sweet shop owner Babulal Khimji Chaudhary (48), said that a few men came to his store around 10.30 am asking for water. He said they were sporting MNS signs on their clothes. Also read: Hindi ‘imposition’ row: Maharashtra government cancels 3-language policy resolution; oppn exults over rollbackWhen the worker in the shop communicated with them in Hindi, an argument ensued and the worker was abused and threatened for not speaking in Marathi.
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“Two of the men came to me and again said that I need to know Marathi if I have to work and then thrashed me after an argument,” Chaudhary said. “They also 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,” Chaudhary said.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.Also read: Expect Maharashtra govt to follow law regarding use of Marathi language in all establishments: Raj ThackerayAn MNS office-bearer said there was an argument at the shop over Marathi because the owner was arrogant. “Our party workers were celebrating the withdrawal of the GR by the state govt on the language issue at Balaji Park and went to buy water at this sweet shop. Here, the owner was arrogant and said that all languages are spoken in Maharashtra, which resulted in some arguments,” the MNS office-bearer said.
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