Gujaratis, Marathis clash at Mumbai housing apartment over ‘non-vegetarian food’, police step in as MNS protests
Later, Maharashtra minister Ashish Shelar said such incidents of "disrespect" on the basis of language were unacceptable.
The Mumbai Police on Thursday had to intervene after a heated argument broke out between members of the Gujarati community and Marathi-speaking residents over the alleged consumption of non-vegetarian food in the Ghatkopar neighbourhood.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) workers also joined the argument with members of the housing society for allegedly insulting their Marathi-speaking neighbours for eating non-vegetarian food.
Later, Maharashtra minister Ashish Shelar said such incidents of "disrespect" on the basis of language were unacceptable.
A video of workers of the MNS issuing a warning to Gujarati residents of the society on Wednesday, accusing them of ill-treating four Marathi-speaking families living there, is being widely shared on social media.
In the video, local MNS leader Raj Parte is heard saying that the Marathi-speaking families were called “dirty” for their choice of food.
“Anybody can live in Mumbai and work here, but we will not tolerate such things....how can others dictate what they should eat,” Raj Parte is heard in the video.
A building resident is heard countering him, stating that there were no restrictions about food. As the argument escalated, some residents alerted Ghatkopar Police, who intervened and sorted out the issue, news agency PTI reported, citing an eyewitness.
The police asked the residents of the society not to ill-treat their Marathi-speaking neighbours and warned of legal action otherwise, the witness said.
A police official told PTI that no complaint has been filed at the police station over the incident. No reaction was available from the Gujarati resident who was accused of insulting Marathi-speaking families. In the video, Parte is also heard alleging that a housing society in a nearby locality prohibited Marathi-speaking families from cooking non-vegetarian food at home, and they were forced to order food from outside.
Reacting to the incident, Mumbai Bharatiya Janata Party president and state IT and cultural affairs minister Ashish Shelar said "no one should commit the sin of looking down upon Marathi-speaking people, their language and their culture".
"It is the stand of the Maharashtra government that the Marathi language and its culture should be respected. Creating disrespect among people of different languages is not acceptable to us," he warned.
Both the Raj Thackeray-led MNS and the undivided Shiv Sena have alleged in the past that Marathi-speakers were not allowed to buy or rent a flat in some areas because they eat non-vegetarian food. As elections to the Mumbai civic body are expected to be held this year, the MNS has recently been raising the demand for the mandatory use of Marathi in public places, including government offices and banks.
(With inputs from PTI)
