AS MNS UPS ANTE OVER MARATHI, BANK STAFF WRITE TO CM SEEKING PROTECTION

Workers of the Raj Thackeray-led MNS have been confronting managers of nationalised bank branches across Thane and Pune and using strong-arm tactics over the last few days for not using Marathi in communicating with customers, prompting one of the banks to write to the CM seeking protection and action against the offenders.

Thackeray at his Gudi Padwa rally on March 30 had reiterated his party's stand on making Marathi mandatory for official purposes. Since then, MNS activists have upped the ante. In one instance, police booked an MNS worker for slapping an SBI bank employee. Reacting to the incidents, the CM said while it was "not wrong to demand Marathi in Maharashtra…if someone takes the law in his hand, then the law will take its course."

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