The Union Agriculture Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar was slapped at a literary event on Thursday by a youth, who claimed to have been angry with price-rise and corruption.
The attack on the Nationalist Congress Party chief evoked strong condemnation from almost all political parties, which said violence cannot be tolerated in a democracy.
The youth identified as Harvinder Singh, a tempo driver from Rohini in Delhi, had also attacked the former Telecommunications Minister, Mr Sukh Ram, last week.
After slapping Mr Pawar, the youth shouted slogans against price rise and corruption at the NDMC Centre on Parliament Street.
Later, terming the attack stupid, the NCP chief said he did not make much of it and it was for the police to deal with the issue. The youth was arrested by the police.
The Prime Minister, Mr Manmohan Singh, and the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, condemned the assault on Mr Pawar.
The social media was abuzz with videos of the slap being circulated. Harvinder Singh and Mr Sharad Pawar became the trending topics on twitter. “Assault on Sharad Pawar is bad, but should alert the political class that the citizenry's patience is running thin,” said a tweet.
The assault triggered protests by NCP workers in Maharashtra who blocked vehicular traffic in Solapur, Nashik and Mumbai.
Keywords: Corruption, price rise, government, Agriculture Minister, Sharad Pawar, youth, attacked
