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F ive members of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) on Tuesday allegedly attacked an Airtel outlet in Mumbai soon after party chief Raj Thackeray poured vitriol on the telecom service provider for not launching customer care helpline in Marathi.
The five came on bikes and pelted stones at the outlet, smashing the glass at the entrance, in suburban Bandra before speeding away, according to senior inspector Prakash George.
The employees at the outlet told the police they had received a letter two weeks ago from MNS asking them to include Marathi in their Interactive Voice Response (IVR) as the first language.
The letter had been forwarded to Airtel headquarters.
The stones were wrapped in MNS flags, the employees claimed. No arrest has been made so far, police said adding a probe was on.
The attack came soon after MNS chief Raj Thackeray criticised Airtel on the issue and asked his party workers "to remove the 'tail' from Airtel".
Airtel did not launch interactive voice response (IVR) in Marathi, citing technical reasons.
Raj said the deadline for citing technical reasons as an excuse to delay launch of IVR in Marathi was over.
"Now, you (MNS activists) should remove the tail from Airtel," Raj had said while addressing the fourth Foundation Day function of his outfit at Yashwant Natyagruha at Matunga in Mumbai.
Meanwhile, MNS sources said the mobile service provider has sent a letter to Raj Thackeray, saying the company would launch IVR in Marathi.