THANE: Once again, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) party is becoming aggressive on the Marathi language issue in Maharashtra. On Thursday, MNS workers went to many banks in Ulhasnagar, where they tore down posters in English.
They met the bank managers and demanded that all the posters and banners in the bank be put up in Marathi within 24 hours. They also demanded that all the bank staff who do not know Marathi should learn it within a month and speak it, or else they threatened to teach them a lesson in MNS style after a month.
After this protest by MNS, the police detained some MNS workers who were later released. The protest was organised under the leadership of MNS’s District President Bandu Deshmukh and Ulhasnagar’s MNS City President Sanjay Ghuge. Both leaders, with their supporters, visited several private and govt banks in Ulhasnagar and tore down posters and banners written in English.
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Deshmukh said, “While there is a clear order from the Maharashtra govt to make Marathi mandatory in the daily operations of every institution in the state of Maharashtra, some bank officers and employees are disrespecting the Marathi language every day by using English and other languages.”
Sanjay Ghuge, however, said, “We have told officers and employees of banks who do not know Marathi that they should learn it within a month and take immediate steps to make Marathi mandatory in the daily operations of the bank, or else we will teach lessons in our style.”
This aggressive stance follows MNS Chief Raj Thackeray’s recent speech at a Gudi Padwa rally, where he reiterated his party’s stand on Marathi being made mandatory for official purposes. Since then, his party leaders have taken up the language issue aggressively.
