A video has gone viral showing a tense confrontation between three Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) workers and a middle-aged North Indian restaurant owner in Maharashtra‘s Mira Road. According to media reports, the dispute began when the men asked the vendor if he spoke Marathi. When he replied that he “didn’t know Marathi,” the situation quickly escalated.

In the video clip, one of the workers confronts the owner, asking, “This is Maharashtra…which state are you working in?” The owner replies, “Maharashtra”. Another worker questioned, “What language is spoken in Maharashtra?” and the owner answers, “All languages are spoken in Maharashtra.” At that point, the MNS members started slapping the man repeatedly. As per the report, the incident happened at Jodhpur Sweets near Balaji Hotel, where the man answered their Marathi demand in Hindi.

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FIR has been registered against MNS workers

After the assault, police filed an FIR against seven unidentified MNS workers, including an alleged deputy mayor associated with the party. The victim has been identified as Babulal Chaudhary (48) informed police that the dispute started with the men who were wearing MNS symbols entering his shop at 10:30 AM and seeking water. He further explained that his staff were not fluent in Marathi, but the workers asserted that “all should know Marathi in Maharashtra,” and then began slapping him.

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Social media reactions on the viral video

The incident has triggered widespread outage and sparked fresh debate on linguistic intolerance. Social media users criticised the violence, raising concerns over the rising violence linked to language politics. One user tagged Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis on X, mentioning, “@DevFadnavis sir these gundas of @RajThackeray party openly harassing people everyday, sir please do something.”

Another post slammed the violent behaviour, stating, “With no security, I can judge these are against standard development of the country #shame.”

However, not all the responses were critical, one tweet showed support to the MNS workers actions, saying, “Maharashtra is Marathi land, if he had said this much, he would have escaped those shots. Foolish man. @mnsadhikrut good job.”

The attack comes amid broader conflict following recent policy changes in Maharashtra related to the three-language formula.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut announced on Tuesday that his party will conduct a rally on July 5, observing it as “Marathi Vijay Diwas”. The decision has been taken given the state government’s reversal of the three-language policy in schools.