A protest by members of the women’s wing of city Congress against inflation outside the venue. (Express Photo Ashish Kale)Members of the BJP and NCP got into a heated argument outside a city venue where Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani was attending a book release event on Monday. Irani was attending the function at the Bal Gandharva Ranga Mandir in Shivajinagar on Monday evening to release a book on Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the BJP.
The city unit of NCP, led by its women members, staged a protest outside the venue and tried to give a memorandum to Irani on rising inflation. They also raised slogans against inflation, and BJP workers present at the event also raised slogans against them in response.
The situation turned tense, with NCP saying its women members were beaten up by members of the local BJP unit. “The women members of NCP were holding protest peacefully and wanted to give a memorandum to the minister. The BJP party workers beat up our women workers and we want legal action against them,” said city NCP chief Prashant Jagtap.
Members of the local NCP as well as Congress also held protests outside a private hotel on Senapati Bapat Road where Irani was staying. Some of the protesters were detained by police from the site.
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Responding to the protests, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said everyone has the right to protest but it should be in a non-violent manner. “No one should take the law in their own hands,” he said.
On Saturday, a state BJP office-bearer in the city was slapped, allegedly by a NCP worker, for making a “derogatory” remark against NCP chief Sharad Pawar on social media.
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