D-Mart employee slapped, forced to apologise by MNS workers for not speaking Marathi (WATCH)

Workers of Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) on Tuesday allegedly slapped a D-Mart employee in Mumbai for not speaking in Marathi. The video of the incident is going viral on social media.

Workers of Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) allegedly slapped a supermarket employee for refusing to speak in Marathi. The heated altercation unfolded on Tuesday at the D-Mart outlet in Versova, Andheri (West), triggering an intense language debate.

A video that has now gone viral captured the moment the D-Mart employee said to a customer, "I will not speak in Marathi, I will speak only in Hindi. Do what you want to do." The statement quickly snowballed into a controversy, drawing the attention of MNS workers, led by the party’s Versova unit president, Sandesh Desai.

In retaliation, a group of MNS activists stormed into the supermarket, confronting the staffer and allegedly slapping him and forcing him to apologise.

Following the uproar, the employee, who had initially refused to speak Marathi, later issued an apology. Meanwhile, the incident has once again ignited discussions over language imposition and regional identity, with the MNS reinforcing its long-standing demand for Marathi to be given due prominence in Maharashtra’s businesses and public spaces.

Police are currently reviewing the matter.

Not an isolated incident

In a similar incident earlier this month, another video had gone viral where a female employee of a telecom company, Airtel, purportedly refused to interact with a customer in Marathi, prompting BJP MLC Chitra Wagh to call for promoting the use of Maharashtra's local language.