In recent months, Mumbai has witnessed a growing cultural divide, with repeated clashes and tensions between Marathi-speaking residents and non-Marathi communities. What began as isolated incidents has now developed into a disturbing pattern — especially targeting Marathi families for their language, identity, and lifestyle. The latest incident from Ghatkopar has once again ignited this ongoing debate. In a housing society in Ghatkopar, where the majority of residents are from Jain, Marwari, and Gujarati backgrounds, only four Marathi families reside. According to reports, these Marathi families have been subjected to continuous harassment, primarily due to their non-vegetarian food habits.
One individual in particular, identified as a resident named Shah, has allegedly made repeated offensive remarks towards the Marathi residents. Phrases like “Marathi people are dirty, you eat fish and meat” have been used to demean and isolate them. Such behavior, rooted in food-based and cultural discrimination, has sparked widespread anger. Upon hearing about the harassment, workers from the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) promptly arrived at the society in support of the Marathi families. They issued a stern warning, stating that if the harassment continued, thousands more would come to their aid. Notably, the individuals responsible for the derogatory remarks were absent during the MNS visit, while other residents attempted to calm the situation and called for peace.
MNS leader Raju Parte later shared a social media post expressing frustration over the repeated mistreatment of Marathi people in their own city. “How long do we have to keep fighting for Marathi families in Ghatkopar?” he asked. He also pointed out how being a minority in certain societies often leads to daily humiliation, discrimination, and marginalization — even for something as basic as food choices. Ahead of civic polls in the state, including in big corporations like Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Nashik and Nagpur, MNS is pushing the Marathi language agenda. The Raj-Thackeray-led party has been seeking to enforce the Marathi language in banks and other institutions in the state.
Recently, many incidents have come forth where people have been physically abused for not speaking in Marathi, leading to a massive language row in the economic capital of the country. In the past weeks, MNS workers had confronted two bank managers of different banks in Thane and Pune districts for not using the Marathi language while communicating with customers. The videos of the workers confronting the bank staff gained widespread views on social media platforms. At a rally on the occasion of Gudi Padwa, Raj Thackeray had stressed his party’s stand of making Marathi compulsory for official purposes and warned that those who deliberately don't speak Marathi will be “"slapped".