Police on Monday detained a man for throwing bangles at Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani in Gujarat on Monday.
Irani on Tuesday accused the Congress of having sent the man and said that these acts by the Congress are expected with elections slated in the state later this year.
“Chunaav Gujarat mein aa raha hai iss liye iss tarah ke kartabon ki mujhe apeksha hai. Ek purush ko bheja hai mahila par aakraman karne ke liye, Congress ki wo strategy thodi galat hai (Elections are scheduled later this year in Gujarat, so I am expecting such acts. The Congress sent a man to attack a woman, that strategy is wrong),” she said.
The incident happened when the Union textile minister was addressing a gathering as part of the celebrations of the completion of three years of the Narendra Modi government, said Amreli Superintendent of Police (SP) Jagdish Patel.
The man, in his mid-20s, was identified as Ketan Kaswala and a resident of Mota Bhandaria village in Amreli district, the police said.
Kaswala, who was sitting at a distance from the stage, suddenly got up and threw two or three bangles towards the stage. He shouted ‘Vande Mataram’ while throwing the bangles. The policemen quickly took him away.Amreli Superintendent of Police Jagdish Patel
Before the function began the police had briefly detained around 25 Congress workers for staging protests outside the venue.
The local Congress MLA Paresh Dhanani said Kaswala threw the bangles to demand for a complete farm loan waiver in the state. However, the police disagreed.
"Kaswala is not associated with the Congress or any other organisation. While throwing the bangles, he had shouted 'Vande Mataram' and no other slogan," Patel said.
He added that as the policemen were taking him away, Irani urged them to let Kaswala be present in the event.
The minister even told the policemen to let him throw the bangles. She said she would send them to his wife as a present.Amreli Superintendent of Police Jagdish Patel
This is the second such incident where a union minister has been targeted in Modi's home-state.
On 28 May, a member of the Hardik Patel-led Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti hurled a shoe at Union minister Mansukh Mandaviya in Bhavnagar district, saying the BJP government was not doing anything for the country’s educated youth.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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