Marathi row in Supreme Court: PIL against MNS chief Raj Thackeray for 'inciting violence' on Hindi speakers

The plea filed by a lawyer, Advocate Ghanshyam Upadhyay, seeks an FIR against Raj Thackeray and MNS workers for inciting violence against those speaking Hindi.

Updated on: Jul 19, 2025, 12:32:46 IST

By HT News Desk

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The Marathi language row has reached the Supreme Court with a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) being filed against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray for allegedly inciting violence against Hindi-speaking people and language-based hatred.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray addresses a public meeting at Mira Road, in Mumbai, Friday, July 18 (PTI)

The plea filed by a lawyer, Advocate Ghanshyam Upadhyay, seeks an FIR against Raj Thackeray and his party workers, according to news agency ANI.

This comes after multiple incidents of people linked to Raj Thackeray-led MNS assaulting individuals and vandalising properties allegedly for not speaking Marathi.

Hindi-speaking people assaulted

MNS activists recently thrashed a sweet shop owner in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region for not speaking Marathi.

Earlier this month, MNS workers damaged the glass door of Mumbai-based share market investor Sushil Kedia's office in Worli after he declared he would not speak Marathi and dared the party chief Raj Thackeray.

On July 5, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and MNS head Raj Thackeray shared a stage here for the cause of the Marathi language, and vowed to oppose the “imposition” of Hindi in Maharashtra after the state government rolled back the GRs on the introduction of Hindi as a third language in primary schools.

Earlier this week, three Mumbai lawyers wrote a letter to the Maharashtra Director General of Police (DGP), seeking legal action against the MNS over recent attacks on non-Marathi speaking people.

Also Read: What did investor Sushil Kedia say about Raj Thackeray that triggered fury and Mumbai office vandalism?

The letter, written by advocates Pankaj Mishra, Nityanand Sharma and Ashish Rai, has described such incidents as "serious and unlawful situations that threaten social harmony and the law and order", according to PTI news agency.

The letter cited Raj Thackeray's speech at a rally in Worli area of Mumbai on July 5.

It claimed that Thackeray made inflammatory and inciting statements against non-Marathi speaking people, which resulted in the party activists taking an aggressive stance against common citizens, assaulting local shopkeepers, and threatening them.

Stating that the unity, peace and integrity of the nation was being threatened due to such incidents, the letter on Monday requested police to take action under the National Security Act (NSA) against the main conspirators and "anti-national" elements.

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HT News Desk
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