Several members of Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) were detained by police in the early hours of Tuesday during a rally organised in Mira Bhayander to counter a traders’ protest. The rally was held amid growing tensions following the recent assault of a food stall owner for not speaking Marathi. The demonstration brought parts of Thane district to a standstill before being swiftly disrupted by a heavy police deployment.
So far, the police have detained more than 150 individuals in connection with the protest. According to officials, notices will be issued to some for violating preventive orders, while cases will be registered against those who attempted to manhandle police personnel or obstruct government work.
A senior police officer confirmed that the identification and documentation process of all detained protesters is currently underway. The entire protest was also recorded on video, and based on the footage, the accused will be identified and appropriate legal action will be taken against them.
Detentions spark allegations of bias
MNS’s Thane and Palghar chief Avinash Jadhav, along with several other leaders, was detained at 3:30 am. According to MNS leader Sandeep Deshpande, the arrests were politically motivated. "This is an Emergency-like situation. When traders protested, they were given freedom, but when Marathi people want to raise their voice, they are stopped," he said.
Visuals from the rally showed MNS workers being bundled into police vans amid chaos and heavy deployment. The party had planned to march towards Mumbai despite lacking official police permission for the route they selected.
What the protesters want
The MNS rally was a direct response to protests held by traders after a viral video showed MNS workers slapping a food stall owner in Bhayander for not speaking Marathi. MNS leaders argue their movement is about asserting Marathi pride and demanding that people conducting business in Maharashtra speak the local language.
Backing the rally was the Marathi Ekikaran Samiti, which echoed MNS’s stance that those residing and working in the state must respect the Marathi language. MNS leaders also accused BJP MLA Narendra Mehta of politicising the traders’ protest for electoral mileage.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis defended the police action, stating that the MNS had been asked to take an alternate route for their protest but refused to comply. “Nobody denied them permission. They didn’t follow the law,” Fadnavis said.
Language tensions escalate
The flashpoint in the ongoing language debate came earlier this month when Babulal Chaudhary, a shop owner in Mira Road, was assaulted for allowing his staff to speak Hindi. A case was registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, but the accused MNS workers were later released after brief detention.
The incident intensified public discourse around linguistic identity in Maharashtra, with political leaders like Uddhav Thackeray accusing the BJP of exploiting the issue to divide communities. Meanwhile, MNS continues to push for the mandatory use of Marathi in commercial establishments across the state.
