Marathi Language Row in Maharashtra Sparks Outrage Over Political Silence on Vigilantism
During the Slapgate controversy, Aaditya Thackeray stated, “No Language Should Be Imposed…”
State politics have been agitated by two attacks in four days by thugs from Raj Thackeray’s MNS, one on a Pune guy for a “objectionable” post and the other on a Mumbai man for not speaking Marathi. The discomfort has been heightened by a third involving an ex-MP from the Uddhav Thackeray party.
The top ten points of this significant tale are as follows:
Late on Sunday, the first attack took place. MNS party workers slapped a merchant in the Mira Road area of Mumbai after a staff member and he failed to communicate in Marathi language. Babulal Chaudhary, 48, was assaulted by the goons, who recorded the incident and uploaded it to the internet.
Only after extensive NDTV coverage did the police take action, as the video became viral. Two days after the assault, a case was filed, and two days later, four of the seven were summoned in for interrogation. As of yet, none of the defendants have been taken into custody.
The second happened on Thursday. An ‘objectionable’ social media remark about Raj Thackeray led to the assault of a guy in the Kothrud neighborhood of Pune. MNS employees stormed Kedar Soman’s house, assaulted him, and then called the police, who arrested him.
In both cases, the MNS insisted that any “disrespect” to the Marathi language would be met with a harsh response and declined to provide an apology or censure party employees. Sandeep Deshpande, the party’s president in Mumbai, claimed that the attack on Kedar Soman was a message to Raj Thackeray’s detractors and that Babulal Chaudhary was attacked because he “insulted” Marathi.
Perhaps more startling was a minister’s reaction. While saying that “action will be taken” against anyone who “disrespects Marathi,” Home Minister Yogesh Kadam made no mention of disciplining the MNS hooligans. “Marathi will have to be spoken in Maharashtra…”
Amol Patil, one of the thugs involved in the attack on Chaudhary, was also interviewed by NDTV. Despite a video of an attack that Deputy Commissioner of Police Prakash Gaikwad told NDTV is obviously a crime that can be prosecuted, Patil is still free. Chaudhary’s “attitude” was the reason behind the attack, he said NDTV, adding that he expected non-Marathi speakers to “behave” themselves.
Additionally, on Thursday, a video from the office of Rajan Vichare, a former MP from Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT), showed an irate client named Kiran Sawant punching a Thane shop employee after his assistant taunted them for not knowing Marathi.
According to Aaditya Thackeray, the son of Uddhav Thackeray, he met with Vichare, who informed him that the incident had nothing to do with speaking or not speaking Marathi. He informed me that an official was not permitted to recharge his prepaid cell phone while he was at the store. “This resulted in a fight… this has been reported to the police,” he said.
In addition to saying that the Marathi language “shouldn’t be insulted” but that “(no) language shouldn’t be imposed” on people, Thackeray was balancing statements that might be construed by pro-Marathi factions as abandoning the goons or as defending them.
As all of this is going on, the Thackeray family celebrates their success in getting the state government to revoke its directives that made Hindi the required third language for pupils in Classes I through V. Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have seen the ‘Hindi imposition’ controversy due to allegations that the federal government, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, seeks to suppress regional languages.
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