Asking Someone In Mumbai To Speak HINDI Is A Crime? MNS Allegedly ‘Assaults’ Showroom Owner

Mumbai : Sandeep Deshpande and his functionaries, people of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena reportedly beat up a Colaba jeweller on Friday after he refused to speak in Marathi. On Thursday evening, Marathi writer Shobha Deshpande went to the Mahavir Jewellers Showroom in Colaba. Where the showroom owner asked her to speak in Hindi instead of Marathi, as he did not know Marathi.

As the shopkeeper said he didn’t know the Marathi, he couldn’t communicate in Marathi and so he asked her to speak in Hindi. Writer Shobha Deshpande felt that the owner’s refusal to speak in Marathi amounted to it being an insult of the ‘Marathi manoos’. On this issue, writer Shobha sat on a protest without food or water for more than 12 hours from 5pm last evening. She refused to eat anything till the owner apologized.

Writer Shobha sat on a dharna outside the shop and lay on the road overnight. Writer Shobha Deshpande was firm on her demand that the shop owner of ‘Mahavir Jewellers’ should speak in Marathi. Demanding this, she protested in front of a jeweler’s shop in Colaba for more than 12 hours. In the morning, when MNS leaders came to know about this, they reached first and beat up the jewelry showroom owner.

According to Shobha, the shopkeeper even refused to show the shop license and did not even cooperate with the police.

When the matter came to light, Sandeep Deshpande who is the general secretary of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) came to the protest site and reportedly forced the owner to apologize. He also beat the jeweler for not speaking in Marathi with the writer.