Amid the Marathi language row in Mumbai, a recent incident from the Nanded district of Maharashtra came to light, where Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) workers assaulted a public toilet worker for charging Rs 5 and challenging him for not speaking in the Marathi language. The videos of the incident went viral on social media, raising concerns among non-Marathi speakers.
The incident took place in the Nanded district, where a non-Marathi migrant worker who manages a public toilet at the ST bus station charged Rs 5 from a woman for urinal use. Despite complaints from residents to the bus station authorities, no action was taken by the ST bus officials.
The video of a man overcharging for a toilet was shared with MNS, after which they confronted and thrashed the toilet operator, forcing him to apologise. Local residents claimed they had previously reported the matter to the station management, but their request was ignored.
In one of the viral videos, a Marathi-speaking local man confronts the toilet operator for charging Rs 5 for urinal use at the bus station. The operator is seen arguing and refusing to respond in Marathi. When asked his name and told that a complaint would be filed, he continued to argue, while asking whether the man thinks of himself as some big shot.
The man filming the video insisted he speak in Marathi, but the man refused and instead replied, "I will not speak in the language. What will you do? Go." A woman next to the man is also arguing with the man, and the man shooting the video says he will show the worker what he can do.
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In another video, the man walks up to what appears to be the ticket office at the bus stop and asks the employees whether using the public toilet is free for women. When the employees say it is, the man says he will show the video to the MNS workers.
The MNS workers visited the toilet, and one of them seen assaulting him the worker. As another man tries to intervene and stop them, the men slap the worker three times, asking, "You are abusing women? Will you speak in Marathi or not? Do you know Marathi?"
"You don't know Marathi? If you had said you didn't know the language and that you were learning, would we be here?" one of the men says. The worker falls at the man's feet and apologises; later, he is pulled out of the toilet.
The men, now wearing scarves with the MNS symbol and name, make the worker hold his ears and repeat after them in Marathi: "I apologise to the Marathi people and Raj Thackeray. I will not make such a mistake again." "You will learn Marathi, right? Learn it quickly," the worker is told by one of the men.