Mumbai, April 28 -- Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Tuesday reacted to Marathi being made compulsory for auto and taxi drivers in the state, saying that similar language norms exist in other states as well.

Raut said, "West Bengal must have Bengali compulsory, in Gujarat--Gujarati, Kannada in Karnataka, Punjabi in Punjab... So, when we want the same thing for Maharashtra, then what is the problem?"

He further added, "Disrespecting Marathi for the sake of vote banks...this won't work...This is for their own good... Knowing the language of the locals will only help the drivers themselves."

This comes after the state Transport Minister earlier this month announced that knowledge of the Marathi language would be made compulsory for drive...