Narayan Rane's comments have sparked massive Shiv Sena anger and protests.
Union Minister Narayan Rane was arrested today over his comment on slapping Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray for what he called his "ignorance of the year India won Independence".
Mr Rane, who joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet in July as Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, is the first central minister to be arrested in 20 years.
He could not win a last-minute reprieve from the Bombay High Court, which rejected an urgent hearing on his petition asking for three FIRs against him to be scrapped.
Mr Rane's lawyer told the court: "The police have arrived to arrest him, they are waiting at his doorstep." The High Court responded: "Please follow the procedure. Don't make us do the job of the registry."
The Shiv Sena filed cases against Mr Rane over his remarks on Monday at a "Jan Ashirwad Yatra" organised nationwide by the BJP for new ministers in PM Modi's government. He claimed Mr Thackeray forgot the year of independence during his August 15 address and had to check with his aides mid-speech.
"It is shameful that the Chief Minister does not know the year of independence. He leaned back to ask about the count of years of independence during his speech. Had I been there, I would have given him a tight slap," Mr Rane said in the public meeting at Raigad.
The comments have sparked massive Shiv Sena anger and protests and FIRs were filed in three cities listing non-bailable offences.
Mr Rane had defended his remarks and had warned the media against reporting his ''imminent arrest'', saying he was not an ordinary man.
"I haven't committed any crime. You should verify and show it on TV or else I will file a case against you (media). Despite not committing any crime, the media is showing speculative news about my 'imminent' arrest. Do you think I am a normal (ordinary) man?" he had said.
The Sena alleged that Mr Rane, a former leader of the party, deliberately made the remarks to provoke tension in Maharashtra.
A clash erupted this morning as Sena members marching towards Mr Rane's home in Mumbai, carrying flags and shouting slogans, were stopped by BJP workers. Scores of policemen used force to restore order outside Mr Rane's house in Juhu. Stones were also thrown between two groups.
The youth wing of the Shiv Sena, Yuva Sena, has put up posters across the state using a slur to refer to Mr Rane - "kombdi chor'' (chicken thief) - a reference to the poultry shop he ran in Chembur five decades ago when he was in the Shiv Sena.
Sena MP Vinayak Raut launched a fierce attack on Mr Rane and demanded his removal from the central government.
"To impress the BJP leadership, Rane has been attacking Shiv Sena and its leaders. He lost his mental balance after his induction into the Modi-led ministry. Modi should show him the door," Mr Raut said.
Mr Rane, 69, began his political career in the Shiv Sena, then led by Uddhav Thackeray's father Bal Thackeray. He entered the Maharashtra Assembly in 1990 as a Sena MLA.
He took over as Maharashtra Chief Minister in 1999 but his stint was short-lived as the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance lost the state election later the same year.
In 2005, Mr Rane quit the Sena following a clash with the Thackerays.
He joined the Congress and became a state minister. But he quit the Congress too in 2017, accusing the party of not following through on its promise to make him chief minister. He founded his own party with his two sons Nilesh and Nitesh but later merged it with the BJP.
