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Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray has reignited the debate around language and regional identity, strongly criticising what he described as an ongoing “experiment” to impose Hindi on Maharashtra. Speaking at a rally held at NSCI Dome in Worli, Mumbai on Saturday, Thackeray said that while he held no animosity towards Hindi, any attempt to sideline Marathi would not be tolerated.

“I don’t have anything against Hindi, no language is bad. It takes a lot of effort to build a language,” Thackeray said, acknowledging the importance of linguistic diversity in India. Drawing from history, the MNS leader noted that during the era of the Maratha Empire, Marathi rulers did not impose their language on the regions they governed.

“We Marathi people ruled over a lot of states during the Maratha Empire, but we never enforced Marathi on those parts,” he said, contrasting the Maratha legacy with recent trends.
According to Thackeray, recent efforts to prioritise Hindi in non-Hindi-speaking states like Maharashtra are not accidental but part of a deliberate move. He accused proponents of the move of testing the waters to see how much pushback they might face.

Experiment Of Imposing Hindi Over Us

“They started with the experiment of imposing Hindi over us and were trying to test if we would not have opposed it, they would have gone upto making Mumbai separate from Maharashtra,” he warned.

Mumbai: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Raj Thackeray says, "I don’t have anything against Hindi, no language is bad. It takes a lot of effort to build a language. We Marathi people ruled over a lot of states during the Maratha Empire, but we never enforced Marathi on those… pic.twitter.com/B2tjnOWGIW

— ANI (@ANI) July 5, 2025

The rally, held in the name of Marathi language and cultural pride, signals a potential turning point in Maharashtra’s political landscape, with analysts suggesting it could set the stage for a larger political reshuffle ahead of the 2024 local body polls and the 2026 Assembly elections.