Man Slaps Sharad Pawar Over Corruption

Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar was slapped at a public function in New Delhi on November 24, 2011, by a young man who said he was acting out of anger over corruption and price rise.

The 71-year-old Pawar had gone to a literary function at a public auditorium on Parliament Street when Harvinder Singh, a transporter in his thirties, struck him. Singh was no stranger to the headlines: days earlier, he had assaulted former Telecom Minister Sukhram outside the Rohini court after Sukhram was sentenced in a corruption case.

Pawar lost his balance but remained composed, moving toward the exit and into his waiting car. Security guards overpowered Singh, who kept shouting that the minister was corrupt. Singh told reporters he had come to the event planning the attack, and said things could have been worse — but that he had restrained himself because the day was the martyrdom day of Guru Tegh Bahadur.

Pawar later dismissed the incident as stupid and said he made little of it, leaving it to the police to decide on charges. He noted that Singh had been standing with a group of journalists and had taken advantage of the minister's thin security cover.

The condemnation was swift and across party lines. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke to Pawar and condemned the attack; Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee called it "totally condemnable." Opposition parties condemned the assault while insisting the government take corruption and price rise seriously. Congress spokesman Rashid Alvi blamed a BJP statement on price rise for inciting the anger; BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad condemned the attack and demanded punishment for Singh, while pointing to rising prices of gas, petroleum, food, and vegetables. Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav likewise condemned the act and demanded punishment.

Anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare's reaction drew its own headlines: his initial remark about the attack appeared dismissive, prompting criticism, before he issued a fuller statement denouncing the assault.

The episode captured the mood of late 2011 — a year when scams dominated the headlines, Anna Hazare's movement had filled Delhi's streets, and public anger at the political class was finding outlets both peaceful and, as that Thursday showed, otherwise.