Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) MLAs who assaulted a colleague in the House for not speaking in Marathi, don’t send their own children to Marathi-medium schools.

A day after MNS MLA Ram Kadam slapped SP’s Abu Azmi — who pleaded he does not know Marathi well enough to take the oath in the language — inquiries by 'The Indian Express' revealed that the children of eight of the MNS’s 13 MLAs attend English-medium schools.

It is well known that MNS chief Raj Thackeray’s son Amit passed out of Mumbai’s exclusive Bombay Scottish school last year, and that he chose to study a foreign language instead of Marathi while he was there.

Raj’s daughter Urvashi is currently a student of the same school. Yesterday, Raj wrote to all 288 Maharashtra MLAs reminding them of their “responsibility” towards Marathi.

• Mayuresh, son of Khadakwasla MLA Ramesh Wanjale — who shoved aside the lectern which Azmi wanted to use to take oath, and is one of the four MLAs suspended for four years — studies in Class 5 in Springdale High School in Sinhagad. Wanjale’s elder daughter Sayali is in Class 11 in Pune’s Sinhagad College, studying in English medium, although her schooling was in the Marathi medium. Younger daughter Disha is in Huzurpaga High School and studies in Marathi medium.

“English should be learnt but Marathi should be priority. My son is in an English school but he can speak Marathi fluently and his upbringing is equally Maharashtrian,” Wanjale said when asked about the contradiction.

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