The alleged attack on a Marathi-speaking family by a government servant in Maharashtra’s Thane district figured in the state legislature in Nagpur where the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti depensation asserted “insult” of Marathi people will not be tolerated.
The Opposition vociferously raised the issue of the December 18 assault on two members of a Marathi family by the state government employee and his wife, who are neighbours of the victims, following a dispute in Kalyan town, while the Thane police said the male accused, Akhilesh Shukla, has surrendered.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis informed the legislative council that a case was registered against Shukla (48), an employee with the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation, and his wife over the attack, and the process to suspend him had been initiated.
Besides the Shuklas, the FIR has also named some other persons involved in the assault on the victims, a husband-wife duo.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray legislator Anil Parab raised the issue in the Upper House of the legislature which is having its winter session in Nagpur, the state’s second capital.
“Shukla told the victims he works in Mantralaya (state secretariat) and several Marathi staffers clean his office,” Parab said, claiming incidents of Marathi people facing discrimination from those coming from other states were increasing.
Marathi people face attacks during train travel or are denied homes in housing societies due to their food choices, he said.
Such incidents were on the rise in Mumbai, Pune, Kalyan and other parts of the state after the BJP came to power, the Opposition MLC alleged.
Congress legislator Bhai Jagtap alleged the accused made derogatory remarks about Marathi people, while Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar MLC Shashikant Shinde claimed an unwritten rule of not allowing non-vegetarian people prevails in housing societies in Mumbai.
Responding to the controversy, Fadnavis said a First Information Report has already been registered at the Khadakpada police station in Thane district, and Shukla will be suspended from his job.
“No injustice will be done to Marathi people,” he assured the house.
The chief minister also said the Constitution gives everyone the right to choose one’s food, and no one has the right to deny home to anyone based on eating habits.
“This discrimination will not be tolerated,” Fadnavis asserted.
When the Sena-UBT MLA Sunil Prabhu raised in the assembly, deputy CM Ajit Pawar said, “Injustice against Marathi people will not be tolerated.”
Another deputy Chief Minister, Eknath Shinde, reiterated the government’s assertion that insult of Marathi people will not be tolerated.
Action has been taken against the accused and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has made an elaborate statement in the legislative council over the issue, he told reporters in Nagpur.
“Marathi asmita (pride) will be protected and insult of Marathi people will not be tolerated,” said the Shiv Sena president, adding late Bal Thackeray had founded the party to protect the rights of Marathi people.
Strongly reacting to the attack, Maharashtra Navnriman Sena president Raj Thackeray said a breed of “Maharashtra haters” have cropped in the state and they need to be nipped in the bud.
In a post on X, Thackeray said when such an incident takes place, people knock on the doors of the MNS because other parties will not come running for them.
But for voting, they will turn their back on the MNS, he lamented.
The MNS did not win a single seat in the last month’s polls to the 288-member state assembly.
Marathi manoos (Marathi-speaking people) are paramount for the MNS and it will always stand by them, Thackeray assured.
“The local MLA, MP did not come out against the incident and did not do any follow-up to register an FIR against the accused. All MLAs have taken Marathi people for granted,” Thackeray said.
Shrikant Shinde, son of deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, is the Lok Sabha MP from Kalyan.
According to the Thane police, the attack took place around 8.45 pm on December 18, and the accused as well as the victims, also a couple, live on the same floor of a building in Kalyan.
As per the FIR, the victims saw Shukla quarrelling with one of their neighbours over burning of incense and asked him to maintain peace. Shukla and his wife Geeta (45) allegedly got angry and beat up the man and his wife with the help of eight to ten others, using iron rods, pipes and wooden sticks.
Later on Friday, Shukla surrendered before the Khadakpada police, senior inspector Aamarnath Waghmode said.
“We will trace the other accused,” said the police officer.
Before surrendering, Shukla posted a video on social media claiming that his wife was beaten up by the family members of the victims.
The police have registered the FIR against Shukla and his wife under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 74 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 115 (voluntarily causing hurt), 351(3) (criminal intimidation), 189 (2) (3) and (5) (unlawful assembly) and others.
