Mumbai shopkeeper tells Marathi-speaking woman ‘Mumbai BJP ka, Mumbai Marwadi ka’, MNS activists slap him

In a surprising incident, a group of MNS activists slapped a shopkeeper in South Mumbai's Girgaon area. The incident occurred a day after the shopkeeper allegedly asked a Marathi-speaking woman to speak to him in Marwadi instead of Marathi. As per the police, the shopkeeper allegedly told the woman to speak in Marwadi, citing the BJP's growing influence in the state.

The incident occurred on Monday in the Khetwadi area in Girgaon. The video of the incident is going viral on social media. In it, the shopkeeper is seen apologising to the woman in front of the activists of the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) after being slapped by them, which went viral on social media platforms.

In the video, the woman says in Marathi that the shopkeeper asked her to speak to her in Marwadi as the BJP has come to power in Maharashtra. She said that the shopkeeper told her, “The BJP has come to power. So you should talk in Marwadi and not Marathi. Mumbai BJP ka, Mumbai Marwadi ka.”

In the video, she says she went to a prominent BJP leader from her constituency to inform him about it, but he told her not to promote enmity between groups.

After not getting a satisfactory response from the BJP leader, she later contacted MNS officials in the Malabar Hill area to report the incident. The shopkeeper was then summoned to the MNS party office, where he was slapped and asked to apologise to the woman, which he did. According to PTI report, the police stated that the issue was settled after the shopkeeper apologised to both the woman and the Marathi-speaking community.

(With inputs from PTI)