Thane:

A team of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) workers attacked a manager of a nationalised bank in Thane’s Ambernath town for not speaking Marathi, escalating tensions in the town.

The attack took place on Wednesday when the MNS activists stormed the bank in the town near Mumbai and attacked the manager aggressively, accusing him of not using the official state language Marathi while dealing with customers.

A video clip of the altercation soon went viral on social networking sites. The video showed the activists banging on the table, pushing a computer screen and yelling at the manager, insisting that the manager speak Marathi.

The bank manager, though, seemed unperturbed and informed the MNS employees that since he was an All India Service, he was allowed to use any language that was sanctioned in official communications.

“One cannot be expected to learn the local language overnight; it takes time,” he is heard saying in the video.

The local branch of the Raj Thackeray party confirmed its members were involved in the incident.

It was not clear if a police complaint was filed in connection with the altercation.

In a related development, Maharashtra Navnirman Vidyarthi Sena activists continued their campaign to safeguard the Marathi language.

A delegation, led by MNS student wing general secretary Sandeep Pachange, met the Education Officer of the Zilla Parishad in Thane and handed over a memorandum seeking severe action against English medium schools that do not allow students to speak Marathi.

MNS activists on Tuesday earlier distributed letters at banks in the district, claiming that Marathi had to be the language of communication with customers.

They had also brought down a banner in front of a bank in the city as it did not contain any Marathi writing.

While addressing his Gudi Padwa rally on March 30, Raj Thackeray re-emphasized the stand of his party regarding Marathi being imposed for official work.