What’s MNS really after?

India Today

Watch how an MNS local leader warned Gujarati residents in Ghatkopar over a food dispute.

Transcript

00:00Is MNS Maharashtra Navnirman Sina targeting non-Marathis again?

00:11Well, that is not entirely true that they are going against the non-Marathis in Maharashtra.

00:16It's basically a political move.

00:18A video of MNS local leader Raj Partey warning members of the Gujarati community

00:23over a food dispute on 16 April 2025 went viral.

00:27The incident took place at Sambhav Darshan Cooperative Housing Society in Ghatkopar,

00:31where a resident Ram Ringe alleged that his neighbour objected to him eating non-vegetarian food.

00:36According to Ringe, the neighbour made a derogatory remark,

00:39You Marathi people are dirty, you eat fish and meat.

00:43Following this, Ringe approached the MNS claiming harassment over his food habits.

00:48On April 16, MNS workers led by local leader Raj Partey visited the society

00:52and warned members of the Gujarati community against mistreating Marathi residents.

00:56After some residents allegedly called for Ringe's boycott on society's WhatsApp group,

01:12MNS members returned the next day and confronted the chairman.

01:16As the issue went viral, police stepped in.

01:19Senior Officer Avinash Kaldate said Ringe had been alleging harassment since losing the society polls

01:24and that the police would hold a meeting with the residents and take necessary legal action.

01:29This incident is the latest in a series of recent flare-ups involving the MNS.

01:33On 1st April 2025, a security guard in Pawai, originally from North India, was assaulted for not speaking Marathi.

01:41Around the same time, MNS members beat up a Marathi-speaking bank employee in Lonavala

01:45for opposing their demand to enforce Marathi in customer service.

01:49On March 25, 2025, MNS workers led by Varsova unit president Sandesh Tesai slapped a DMAT employee for refusing to speak Marathi.

01:58To understand what's fueling this renewed aggression, we reached out to political expert Sahil Joshi from our Mumbai bureau.

02:04MNS contested two elections back-to-back.

02:07The Lok Sabha election, they did not have any candidate, but they supported the Shivasena BJP and NCP, Ajit Pawar's NCPs, Mahayuti,

02:16which had a very bad performance in Lok Sabha.

02:18The assembly elections, MNS contested on its own, but they couldn't get any member elected on their ticket.

02:25So, MNS's star is diminishing at this point of time.

02:29Joshi explained that the current MNS aggression started after Raj Thakar's speech

02:33at the Gudi Padwa rally.

02:35In that rally, he made it very clear that there needs to be an agenda.

02:38And the agenda is basically that in the banks, the conversation also has to be in Marathi.

02:45The localites who go to the banks who do not understand English,

02:49so the bank workers should be able to speak, converse in Marathi with them.

02:54It clearly looks like at this point of time that MNS is trying to go back to the basics,

02:59looking at the upcoming local municipal corporation elections,

03:03which has been pending since last five years in Maharashtra.

03:05And there MNS is trying to forge an alliance with Tekna Chindej Shiv Sena, along with the BJP.

03:11Is the MNS defending Marathi identity or reviving a fading vote bank?

03:15Tell us what you think.

03:17That's one.

03:19You're going to be able to get a plan of such an arrest.

03:20You're not going to be able to get out of the way it's way out of the way.

03:22MNS's is not going to be able to get away from the exchange.

03:24Whenalso and I are very grateful for this,

03:26you know,

03:27it's not going to work because you do not have the willingness to take advantage of the country.

03:29And again,

03:30you know that you don't want to get out of the country.

03:31You're not going to go to the country for the week,

03:33and you're not going to.

03:34And even if you have now in the country.

03:35And even if you have to do this,

03:36and here,

03:37you're not going to like this any country or whatever.

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