Amid MNS Slap-Gate, Maharashtra Minister Says ‘Marathi Must Be Spoken’ As Aaditya Thackeray Opposes ‘Insult’

Maharashtra Minister Yogesh Kadam declared Marathi a mandatory language in the state, threatening legal action against disrespect.

Maharashtra minister Yogesh Kadam.

Source : PTI

Maharashtra minister Yogesh Kadam said on Thursday that speaking Marathi in the state is a must and also warned that any perceived disrespect to the language would invite legal consequences. The statement of Yogesh came amid outrage over a viral video showing a food stall owner in Thane being assaulted for allegedly refusing to speak in the Marathi language.

#WATCH | Mumbai | On a viral video of a shop owner in Thane assaulted for purportedly refusing to speak in Marathi, Maharashtra Minister Yogesh Kadam says, "In Maharashtra, you have to speak Marathi. If you don't know Marathi, your attitude shouldn't be that you won't speak… pic.twitter.com/kSXV1JekAn

— ANI (@ANI) July 3, 2025

“In Maharashtra, you have to speak Marathi. If you don't know Marathi, your attitude shouldn't be that you won't speak Marathi,” Yogesh Kadam told reporters.

“If anyone disrespects Marathi in Maharashtra, we will enforce our laws,” the minister said.

The minister, however, also criticised the manner in which the incident unfolded.

“Those who beat up the shopkeeper should not have taken the law into their own hands. They should have filed a complaint. Action would have been taken,” he added.

Earlier, the goons from Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena attacked a man in Pune for an objectionable social media post about the party boss. This comes days after the MNS thugs assaulted a Mumbai shopkeeper for not speaking Marathi. The attackers have not yet been arrested.

The MNS, according to NDTV, has refused to apologise or even reprimand those involved in either attack.

"If they have the courage, go to Null Bazaar, Mohammed Ali road and tell people there to speak Marathi; it's a Hindu govt, we will not tolerate this," said another Maharashtra minister Nitesh Rane said.

VIDEO | On MNS workers slapping a shopkeeper for not speaking Marathi, Maharashtra minister Nitesh Rane says, "If they have the courage, go to Null Bazaar, Mohammed Ali road and tell people there to speak Marathi; it's a Hindu govt, we will not tolerate this."

(Full video… pic.twitter.com/1FSVhJ1LQP

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 3, 2025

What Aaditya Thackeray Said

Aaditya Thackeray, Uddhav Thackeray's son, said that he had spoken to Rajan Vichare, an ex-MP from Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT), who told him the incident was not about speaking, or not speaking, Marathi.

"... he told me an official went to the shop to recharge his prepaid mobile phone but wasn't allowed to do so. This led to a fight... this has gone into a police complaint," he said as quoted by news agency ANI.

#WATCH | Mumbai | On a viral video of a shop owner in Thane assaulted for purportedly refusing to speak in Marathi, Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray says, "I talked to Rajan Vichare ji on the video, and he told me that this is neither about Marathi and non-Marathi, nor about… pic.twitter.com/9qPDlPTk9b

— ANI (@ANI) July 3, 2025

He also said that Marathi should not be insulted, but no language should be imposed.