A video showing a confrontation between a Marathi-speaking passenger and a railway employee at Mumbai's Nahur railway station has gone viral, causing significant outrage. The incident began when the passenger asked the ticket seller to speak in Marathi. The employee replied that he didn’t know Marathi and requested the passenger to speak in Hindi, which heightened the tension.
In the 1-minute-40-second video shared on the Facebook page of the Marathi Ekikaran Samiti, the passenger confronts the railway employee while recording the interaction on his phone. He accuses the employee of being rude at the start of the exchange. The employee responds, "I don’t know Marathi, so how can I speak it?" The passenger then asks for the employee’s name and official information, but the employee refuses, saying, "You have no rights. Stand aside. There is a queue."
As the argument continues, the passenger demands an apology for being asked to speak in Hindi. The railway employee firmly states, "I will not apologize. I don’t know Marathi, and I simply asked you to speak in Hindi." Other Marathi passengers nearby intervene, pointing out that not everyone understands Hindi and that the employee's behavior is unacceptable. The video has sparked anger among Marathi-speaking communities, who see the incident as yet another insult to the Marathi language and culture in Mumbai. Many social media users have condemned the railway employee's behavior and expressed support for the passenger.
This incident is not isolated; a previous case in Nallasopara involved a Marathi-speaking couple who were harassed by a ticket inspector demanding they speak in Marathi. After the video of that incident went viral, the inspector was suspended.
Such incidents have intensified discussions about the marginalization of Marathi speakers in Mumbai. Complaints about Marathi individuals facing job or housing discrimination in their own state have emerged repeatedly, fueling the ongoing debate about preserving regional identity and linguistic rights in Maharashtra.