Actor-turned-politician Urmila Matondkar on Monday submitted a complaint to the Borivali police seeking action against a group of men, who allegedly tried to disrupt her campaign rally in the morning. While Ms. Matondkar claimed that they were carrying Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) flags, the police are yet to comment on their political affiliations. She has been provided police protection as per her demand.
Ms. Matondkar, Congress candidate for Mumbai North, lashed out at the BJP for “invoking fear and violence”. According to her, the incident occurred around 10.30 a.m., just when her campaign rally reached near Borivali railway station.
“Some men gathered with BJP flags and started shouting ‘Modi, Modi’. Initially, we politely asked them to stay aside, but they did not budge. They then started engaging in objectionable actions, which is when Congress workers intervened, leading to a scuffle,” Ms. Matondkar said.
A policeman trying to disperse the crowd near Borivali railway station.
She claimed that the BJP has been targeting her. “I may be new to politics, but I am not naive. This has been happening to me for the last two weeks. Earlier, (Gopal) Shetty had left his campaigning and approached the State Election Commission (SEC) to get my nomination cancelled for some miniscule reasons,” she said.
Ms. Matondkar submitted an application at Borivali police station seeking action against the miscreants. “The Mumbai Police have given me protection for 24 hours. I hope those who were engaged in this are booked. We will take a call on approaching the SEC with a complaint,” she said.
However, Mr. Shetty, the sitting BJP MP and Ms. Matondkar’s opponent from the constituency, refuted the actor’s allegations, stating that he will apologise to her if she can show the evidence of the men being BJP workers carrying party flags.
“In the video clips, you can see who has played the mischief. Some youths at the station were raising slogans in favour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress workers started beating them. It is the Congress’s culture to do something and blame somebody else for it. The Congress should learn something from Rahul Gandhi. He never gets infuriated when people chant Modi slogans during his campaigns. If Ms. Matondkar can prove that the people protesting were from the BJP and had BJP flags, I will go to her house and apologise. If not, she should,” Mr. Shetty told The Hindu.
The Borivali police, meanwhile, are conducting inquiries. “We have gone through the CCTV footage, and the men who raised the slogans seem to be daily commuters. In the investigation conducted so far, the political party supported by those who raised slogans has not been identified. The chanting of slogans disturbed Ms. Matondkar, which caused the scuffle, but the police intervened at the right time and dealt with the situation appropriately,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone XI) Sangramsinh Nishandar said.