Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar was today slapped at a public function by a young man who claimed he was angry with corruption and price rise. 71-year-old Pawar,who went to a literary function at a public auditorium on Parliament Street,was slapped by Harvinder Singh,a transporter in his thirties who had assaulted former Telecom Minister Sukhram outside Rohini Court on Saturday after he was sentenced in a corruption case. Pawar lost his balance but remained unperturbed after the assault and moved towards the exit of the auditorium and got into his waiting car. Private security guards immediately overpowered the youth who kept shouting: "He is corrupt". An official landed a few blows on Singh. "I came planned to the event to slap the minister," Singh told reporters. "All of them are corrupt," he shouted when he was removed by security and policemen. Wielding a small kirpan,the youth said things could have been worse but he restrained himself because today is the martyrdom day of Guru Tegh Bahadur today. Later,reacting to the incident,Pawar called it stupid and said he did not make much out of it. When asked whether he would press charges against the attacker,he said it was for the police to deal with the matter. Pawar said he saw the youth standing with a group of journalists and could have taken advantage of the fact that he had very little security. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke to Pawar after the incident and condemned the attack. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee also said the attack on Pawar was "totally condemnable". Political parties condemned the attack on Pawar saying this was not acceptable in a democracy. Opposition parties,however,felt the government should be serious about tackling corruption and price rise which are of concern to people. Congress spokesman Rashid Alvi blamed the BJP statement on Tuesday that said the "absence" of any concrete steps to check price rise may become a reason for the people to vent their anger. "BJP has given a statement. This statement is responsible for today's incident," he told reporters. BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad condemned the attack and said the attacker should be punished. He also said the government has not been doing anything on the price situation and the price of gas,petroleum,food and vegetables has been going up. Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav also spoke out against the act and said the attacker should be punished. The government also should take the price situation seriously,he said. 'Only one slap?' asks Anna,then denounces attack on Sharad Pawar Anna Hazare today tied himself in knots with his reaction to the attack on Sharad Pawar,first showing contempt and later condemning the act. He got slapped! Only one slap? he said to a group of journalists who broke out in laughter at his reaction. But later,he condemned the incident saying such acts of violence were not good. He (the attacker) may be very angry. This is not good. Anger is not good. Our Constitution does not tell us to be violent with anyone, Hazare told reporters in Ralegan Siddhi. As word about his remarks created ripples,Hazare said he was talking to 200-300 visitors and someone sent a note that Pawar was attacked. I was asking them,was he only slapped and or did anything else happen to him, he said. After that he spoke to the media and told them it was not a slap on the face of Pawar but a slap on democracy. There is no place for violence in democracy,he said. However,he said the government has to think about how to keep the anger of the masses under check. People are angry. There is corruption and price rise. there is the issue of Jan Lokpal. people are angry over so many things, he said. When pointed out that BJP leader Yashwant Sinha had warned of violence if price rise went unchecked,Hazare said,There should not be violence in a democracy. Condemning the attack,Team Anna member Kiran Bedi said politicians may get targetted if a proper Lokpal Bill is passed. Pray proper lokpal bill gets passed in winter session or else pent up anger may come on streets. Politicians may get targeted, Bedi,who was in the eye of a storm for mocking politicians during Hazare's Ramlila Maidan agitation,tweeted. While condemning assault on public functionaries,(one) needs to analyse why is this happening and what must done to contain this. Assault on public functionaries calls for serious reflection at all levels of society including media forums, Bedi said. Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar was slapped by a youth at a public function claiming he was angry with corruption and price rise. Pawar,who went to a literary function at a public auditorium on Parliament Street,was slapped by Harvinder Singh,a transporter in his thirties who had assaulted former Telecom Minister Sukhram outside Rohini Court on Saturday after he was sentenced in a corruption case.
