A disturbing video and social media post by a Delhi-based journalist has triggered public outrage after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) workers harassed, abused and nearly lynched him in Mumbai, all for not speaking in Marathi.
An X user @MrSinha_ shared a video of a reporter who had arrived in the city for a few hours to cover a story.
The post read, “What kind of state are we turning into?” the journalist questioned. “So, if someone even goes there for a few hours, they’ll have to learn Marathi first?” He concluded his post by tagging @OfficeofUT and @RajThackeray, adding, “It is applicable to your Malik/Malkin Sonia-Rahul as well.”
The reporter in the video is seen telling the mob, “I don’t live here, I’ve come from Delhi just now to report this,”
In a video now circulating online, MNS workers can be seen confronting the reporter aggressively. They yell, “You come from any part of India, be it Delhi, Ahmedabad, or Rajasthan, you have to learn Marathi and speak it in Maharashtra.” The situation escalated as the workers allegedly forced the journalist to repeat a Marathi sentence, hurled abuses, and threatened him to stop recording the incident.
The video and post have gone viral, drawing widespread criticism from the netizens. Many expressed alarm at the growing atmosphere of linguistic extremism and hostility toward non-Marathi speakers in Mumbai.
“This is not language pride, this is mob bullying,” one user posted. Another wrote, “Today it’s a reporter, tomorrow it could be a tourist or a doctor or a patient.”
No official response has been issued by the MNS so far. However, the party has a history of such confrontational enforcement of Marathi identity and language, especially under the leadership of Raj Thackeray, who has repeatedly advocated for locals to be given linguistic and employment preference in Maharashtra.
However, critics argue that such forced enforcement of language alienates non-Maharashtrian citizens and contradicts the spirit of democracy and free press.
The issue has sparked a new wave of discussion around regional politics, press freedom and intimidation of outsiders in India’s financial capital.
