Noting that Marathi must be adopted as the first language of communication by all the locals with everyone, including 'outsiders', he said those who do not abide by it will be dealt with sternly by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena activists.
"Those speaking other languages are thriving because of the pride, which the have in their language and it is time we emulate them," Raj said, appealing everyone to join the movement started by him.
In his speech, the MNS chief continued to target superstar Amitabh Bachchan and his family, but at the same time paid tributes to the actor as a 'great artiste'.
"Didn't Bachchan contest his first election from Uttar Pradesh? Didn't he become UP's brand ambassador? When he acted in a non-Hindi film for the first time, was not it a Bhojpuri movie? Didn't he start a girl's school in Aishwarya's name in UP," Raj asked the audience at a public meeting.
"If such a great artiste -- I am a very small man -- loves his state, then why I should not have affection from my state," Raj asked.
He also said the MNS had no role in the bottle-hurling incident at Bachchan's residence in Mumbai.
"My men did not do that. Had they done it, they would have thrown not a single bottle but a whole crate," said Raj.
Image: Large number of people gathered at the event.
Photograph: Arun Patil
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