Mumbai/IBNS: Junior Maharashtra Home Minister Yogesh Kadam has backed Marathi as the language to be spoken in the state in response to the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) workers' assault on a shopkeeper for not speaking in the dialect, media reports said.

Kadam, a Shiv Sena MLA, said as quoted by NDTV, "Marathi will have to be spoken in Maharashtra."

"If you do not know Marathi (and) your attitude is 'we will not speak it at all', that will not work. You can say 'we will try to speak it'. If someone disrespects Marathi, action will be taken against them."

On the slapgate, the minister told the broadcaster, "We will give them this message... they should not take the law into their own hands. (They should) complain against the person concerned... then action will be taken."

More about the incident

In a video which went viral on social media, some of the workers- identified as belonging to the MNS- were seen thrashing a shopkeeper, who struggled to respond to the onslaughts.

Reportedly, the workers questioned the shopkeeper over not speaking in Marathi. The shopkeeper tried to explain that he didn't know Marathi was compulsory and also he lacked knowledge in the language.

When the MNS workers asked the shopkeeper which state he was working in, the shopkeeper responded, "Maharashtra".

When the protesters asked about the language spoken in Maharashtra, the shopkeeper said, "All languages are spoken here."

The workers got angry at the shopkeeper's response and started slapping him one by one.

Language Row

The Opposition in Maharashtra protested against the alleged Hindi-imposition in the state prompting the Devendra Fadnavis government to roll back the three language formula in the state.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said in an announcement, "A committee of experts will be appointed under the chairmanship of Dr. Narendra Jadhav on the issue of the three-language formula. A final decision regarding the three-language formula will be taken after the report of that committee."

Countering the Hindi-imposition charge, Fadnavis said, "Marathi is our pride, and it is Marathi that is mandatory. Hindi has not been made mandatory anywhere, yet the opposition is being voiced only in the name of Hindi!"

He even alleged the resolution on the National Education Policy (NEP) was issued when Uddhav Thackeray was the Chief Minister.

"When Uddhav Thackeray was the Chief Minister, the Government Resolution (GR) on the National Education Policy (NEP) was issued..."

On April 16, Fadnavis-led Mahayuti government had issued a GR stating Hindi as a compulsory third language in the English and Marathi medium schools for classes 1 to 5.

The GR was heavily criticised by the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi- that comprises Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (Sharad Pawar) and Congress- for the alleged imposition of Hindi.

Later on June 17, the government issued another GR introducing Hindi as "generally" the third language in the Hindi and Marathi medium schools for classes 1 to 5 but not mandatory.

Both the GRs have been slammed by the Opposition.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) held a massive protest against the GRs in Mumbai. Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said the party does not oppose Hindi but its imposition.

The opposition to the three-language policy has already intensified in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

Slamming the new education policy, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin said, "The National Education Policy is not education policy... it is a saffronisation policy."

"The policy was not created to develop India... but to develop Hindi. We are opposing this policy as it will completely destroy the Tamil Nadu education system," he said.

The DMK, and its ally, Congress, have argued that Tamil Nadu, the second-largest state economy, has flourished under a two-language system that teaches Tamil and English.

The country's ruling party said no student will be forced to learn Hindi as the third language and has counter-accused the DMK of politicising the language issue ahead of next year's assembly election.