"Will Go To Jail For Marathi": MNS Worker To NDTV After 'Slapgate'

A worker of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has justified slapping a food stall owner in Thane district over not speaking Marathi, and expressed willingness to go to jail for the linguistic cause.

Trade unions have condemned the assault on the food stall owner, Babulal Khimji Chaudhary, 48.

A worker of the regional party led by Raj Thackeray, however, told NDTV they will never apologise for attacking people who refuse to speak Marathi.

MNS worker Amol Patil, who went to Thane's Kashimira police station where the accused had been summoned, said they do not attack people without reason.

"If he had spoken to us properly, he would not have been slapped. It was his attitude that led us to slap him. Of course we know many people don't know Marathi. But there is a decent way of replying when asked," Mr Patil told NDTV on Thursday.

"Had he [food stall owner] said, 'I will learn Marathi, maybe one of you can teach me', we would have been glad to help. It is all about how they behave with us when we ask them if they speak Marathi," Mr Patil said.

Mr Patil said he reached the food stall after the incident happened. He alleged the food stall owner was aggressive, which led to the reaction from the MNS workers.

"Even if we have to go to jail for 10 days for Marathi, we will not be sad. This is our Maharashtra. In Maharashtra, Marathi will continue," he added.

A video of the incident had gone viral on social media on Tuesday. It showed that while buying food, one of the MNS workers asked the food stall owner Mr Chaudhary to speak in Marathi. When he didn't, the MNS workers got angry and began the assault.

Mr Patil said he met the food stall owner the next day and had a normal conversation, but did not apologise.

"Why should we apologise? He was the one who was wrong. He should have said he did not know Marathi. Or he could have said he has been living in Maharashtra for a long time and has given effort to learn Marathi. We wouldn't have minded," Mr Patil told NDTV.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Prakash Gaikwad told NDTV the assault was clearly a cognisable offence.

The actions of the MNS workers also do not appear to align with what their leaders said on the Marathi language  issue.

MNS vice president Reshma Tapase said the party is willing to teach Marathi to people who want to learn it. However, MNS workers say they will not teach anyone, and so the responsibility of learning Marathi lies with individuals.

While they are not willing to teach Marathi, they also want people to speak Marathi or assault them if they do not - this forcefulness of ideology is something that Maharashtra has been seeing for a long time, analysts said.