Seven unidentified persons, believed to be members of the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, have been booked for assaulting a shopkeeper in Thane district’s Mira Road for not speaking in Marathi, The Times of India reported on Wednesday.

Babulal Khimji Chaudhary (48) has stated in his police complaint that members of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena came to his sweet shop at 10.30 am on Sunday. When a worker in the shop spoke to them in Hindi, they got angry.

They allegedly abused the worker for not speaking Marathi, the newspaper reported.

“Two of the men came to me and again said that I need to know Marathi if I have to work and then assaulted me after an argument,” the newspaper quoted Chaudhary as saying.

He added that the assailants made a video of the incident and uploaded it on social media.

“I had told them that my workers are from other states and not fluent in Marathi,” he said. “But, they insisted that all should know Marathi in Maharashtra.”

A first information report has been filed under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

An unidentified Maharashtra Navnirman Sena member was quoted as saying by The Times of India that an “argument” had taken place at the shop because the owner was “arrogant”.

“Our party workers were celebrating the withdrawal of the GR [government resolution] by the state government on the language issue at the Balaji Park and went to buy water at this sweet shop,” the member was quoted as saying. “The owner was arrogant and said that all languages are spoken in Maharashtra which resulted in some arguments.”

On Sunday, Maharashtra withdrew its government resolution to teach Hindi as the third language to students from Class 1 to Class 5 in Marathi and English medium schools.

The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has been at the forefront of the campaign against the implementation of the three-language policy in state schools, alleging it was an attempt to impose Hindi in the Marathi-speaking state.

Earlier this year, workers of the party had launched a campaign demanding that bank employees in the state speak to customers in Marathi. The campaign has reportedly now been suspended.

In April, two women, one of whom was holding a baby, were assaulted in the city of Dombivli in Maharashtra’s Thane district, allegedly for saying “excuse me” instead of speaking in Marathi.

Three Maharashtra Navnirman Sena members were booked on April 1 for allegedly slapping a watchman in Mumbai’s Powai area for not speaking in Marathi. A similar incident occurred at another bank in the city, where an official was threatened for not speaking in Marathi.

In December, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena members had slapped a shopkeeper at Girgaon in South Mumbai after he allegedly asked a woman to speak to him in Marwadi instead of Marathi, the Deccan Herald reported.