MNS activists confront bank manager in Thane for not conversing in Marathi with customers

THANE: Once again, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) is aggressively pushing the Marathi language issue in Maharashtra. On Wednesday, MNS workers entered a nationalized bank in Ambarnath, where they threatened the bank manager for not communicating in Marathi, the official state language, and vandalized a computer.

During the incident, an MNS worker also warned the bank manager that if he did not speak in Marathi in the future, he would be "taught a lesson in MNS style."


Meanwhile, in Ulhasnagar, a city near Ambarnath, some MNS workers visited other nationalized banks, tore down banners written in English, and met with bank managers, urging them to use Marathi for all official work.

A video of the Ambarnath incident has gone viral on social media, showing activists banging tables, shoving a computer monitor, and shouting at the manager, identified as Sharma, demanding that he converse in Marathi.

However, the bank manager remained unfazed, telling the MNS workers that, as part of an All India Service, he was permitted to use any officially recognized language for communication. In the viral video, Sharma is heard saying, "One cannot be expected to learn Marathi instantly; it takes time."

The MNS workers, however, insisted that since Sharma had been posted in Maharashtra for over 1.5 years, he should have learned Marathi by now. One of them even suggested that Sharma had no intention of learning Marathi and should return to his home state.

Before leaving, the MNS workers threatened Sharma again, warning that if he failed to learn Marathi, they would ensure he did—"in MNS style."

This aggressive stance comes shortly after MNS Chief Raj Thackeray’s speech at a Gudi Padwa rally, where he reiterated the party’s stand on making Marathi mandatory for official communication. Since then, MNS leaders have intensified their campaign on the language issue.