Language war hots up: Mumbai Metro's Hindi signs replaced with Marathi after MNS protest

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) began replacing Hindi signs with Marathi at the Metro 12 construction site in Dombivli on April 11, two days after the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) objected to the use of Hindi and English on the barriers.

MMRDA officials had said a day earlier that they had instructed the contractor to include Marathi signage alongside English.

The protests escalated after MNS workers vandalized the barriers, and former corporator Prabhakar Jadhav threatened to resolve the issue “in MNS style.”

Following its campaign against banks, the MNS has indicated that its next target may be educational institutions.

The party is demanding that name boards in schools and colleges prominently feature Marathi.

Chetan Pednekar, a leader of the Maharashtra Navnirman Vidyarthi Sena—the student wing of MNS—wrote to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, stressing the need for stricter implementation of Marathi signage.

“All aided and unaided schools and colleges across all boards should be directed to display their names prominently in Marathi,” Pednekar wrote, urging the education department to issue appropriate guidelines.

Last week, MNS president Raj Thackeray called for a pause in the party's campaign for Marathi language signage in banks and commercial establishments, claiming that “sufficient awareness” had been raised.

However, after the protests, the United Forum of Bank Unions wrote to CM Fadnavis, alleging that individuals posing as MNS members had threatened bank staff at several branches.

During his Gudi Padwa rally on March 30, Thackeray reiterated the party's demand for the mandatory use of Marathi in official communication and warned that anyone deliberately avoiding the language would be “slapped.”