A complaint has been filed against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray by three advocates over his speech during the 'Marathi Pride' rally at Worli NSCI Dome in Mumbai on July 5. The complaint was filed under the National Security Act for allegedly delivering hate speeches and inciting violence.
During the rally, the MNS chief had urged his supporters not to record videos while assaulting non-Marathi speakers amid the ongoing Marathi language row. Three senior advocates, Pankajkumar Mishra, Nityanand Sharma and Aashish Rai from the Bombay High Court, have written to the Director General of Police (DGP) of Maharashtra, filing a formal complaint against the MNS leader and demanding that an FIR be registered.
The lawyers have also called for a high-level inquiry into his provocative speeches and controversial statements, and have urged that the National Security Act (NSA) be imposed on him. The advocates have further appealed to the authorities to safeguard the life, liberty, equality, and freedom of expression of all citizens residing in the state as guaranteed by the Constitution.
Raj Thackeray instructed MNS workers during the rally to beat people who 'create drama' over not knowing Marathi but do not make their videos. "Be it a Gujarati or anyone else here, they must know Marathi. But there is no need to beat people for that if they don't speak Marathi. Yet, if someone does drama, you must hit them below their eardrums," Thackeray said.
"If you beat someone, don't make a video. Let the person beaten up tell that he has been beaten up; you don't need to tell everyone," he added.
This comes after the controversy over the language. The Maharashtra government, led by Devendra Fadnavis, made Hindi the third compulsory language. Later, the government resolution (GR) was scrapped after backlash from regional parties, including Shiv Sena UBT and MNS, which had announced a joint rally over Marathi pride.
On Saturday, a migrant auto driver was beaten in broad daylight in Palghar area by alleged MNS workers and Shiv Sena UBT. The driver had reportedly argued with a man over the use of Marathi. MNS worker traced him, slapped and assaulted him and asked for apologies publicly to the man and his sister.