New Delhi: Sitaram Yechury, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was on June 7 allegedly heckled at a press conference in New Delhi.
News agency ANI reported that he was ‘manhandled’ by a protestor but uninjured in the incident.
Anti-CPM slogans were raised at the press conference.
Yechury tweeted after the incident, “We will not be cowed down by any attempts of Sangh’s goondagardi to silence us. This is a battle for the soul of India, which we will win.”
The protester was later detained. The Indian Express reports that the protester’s organization was not identified or there was information about the reason for his protest.
Earlier, two people allegedly barged into the CPI(M) head office and shouted slogans against the left leader. The men also raised slogans of ‘Hindu Sena zindabad’ and ‘CPI(M) murdaba’ (death to CPIM).
Incidentally, Yechury was about to enter the party’s central committee meeting hall on the first floor of the office to brief the media.
Later, the trespassers were thrashed by the party workers and handed over to police.
“The event witnessed a high drama as there was complete mayhem created by the miscreants, Upendra Kumar and Pawan Kaul of Hindu Sena, when they tried to disrupt the press conference,” a senior police official said, adding that the miscreants have been detained and further investigations are underway.
Meanwhile, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has condemned the incident, calling it “an attack on Indian democracy.”