'Say will try to learn it': Ajit Pawar's advice to non-Marathi speaking people amid language row

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.

As the language row is snowballing in the state, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Ajit Pawar advised the non-Marathi speaking people to politely say "We do not know Marathi, we are learning it".

"Nothing will happen to someone who says that we are living in Maharashtra but can't speak very good Marathi. However, we respect the language and will try to learn it. It doesn't happen always, people react badly many times. You should respect the language of the state you live in, at least a little bit," he told the media.

VIDEO | Here's what Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar (@AjitPawarSpeaks) said on the language row:

"Nothing will happen to someone who says that we are living in Maharashtra but can't speak very good Marathi. However, we respect the language and will try to learn it. It doesn't… pic.twitter.com/2I1tJMdiOz

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 24, 2025

Earlier in the day, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey received flak by women MPs from Maharashtra over his "Marathi logon ko hum yahan patak patak ke marenge (will thrash Maharashtrians here)" comment.

Furious over his remarks, the women MPs confronted him. Taken aback by the direct confrontation, Dubey appeared visibly rattled. In response, he said, “No, no… it’s not like that… Jai Maharashtra,” before exiting the scene.

Dubey's remarks were a response to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray's "dubo-dubo ke maarenge" threat.

Ajit Pawar's comments follow several instances of confrontations between non-Marathi and Marathi speakers, often from the MNS, in the backdrop of the three-language row and the alleged imposition of Hindi.

Earlier this week yet another man was beaten up by MNS workers for not speaking in Marathi and saying, "I will not speak in the language. What will you do?"

MNS workers have also threatened to break all signboards in Gujarati language on the National Highway and install ones in Marathi. Already some signboards of hotels and shops have been broken on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad National Highway, according to NDTV.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, have condemned the attacks and said resorting to violence over people not speaking Marathi is unacceptable. However, MNS chief Raj Thackeray has said he is "proud of his soldiers".