MNS Worker Slaps Restaurant Owner For Not Speaking Marathi, Video Sparks Outrage

Mumbai: A video has surfaced on social media said to be from Mumbai’s Mira Road area showing a Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) worker allegedly slapping a restaurant owner for not speaking in Marathi.

As shown in the viral video three MNS workers confronted the owner of a local food shop, questioning why he wasn’t using Marathi—the state’s official language. The restaurant owner calmly replied, “I didn’t know Marathi was compulsory. Someone will have to teach me.” 

This response reportedly angered the workers, one of whom retorted, “This is Maharashtra… which state are you working in?” When the owner replied, “All languages are spoken in Maharashtra,” the situation escalated. One of the MNS workers then allegedly slapped him.

The video has since gone viral on social media, drawing sharp criticism from netizens. While some have come in full support for preserving Marathi as a cultural identity, many condemned the use of violence to enforce language preferences.

One user wrote, “Why do political party workers act like government authority? They have no such right! They’re simply general public, just like us.” 

“All these shopkeepers earn money from there and pay rent to these idiots with which they run their households. Apart from this, they themselves do not do any work and do not contribute to the development of the state by working hard.” said one more.

This episode has reignited the long-standing debate over linguistic identity in Maharashtra, especially amid recent political moves to roll back Hindi as third language in schools.