New Delhi:
After he launched a fierce attack against the BJP and Baba Ramdev, Congress spokesperson Janardhan Dwivedi was targeted at a press conference by a man who tried to throw a slipper at him.
The man has been identified as Sunil Kumar from Rajasthan; he was posing as a journalist. He was grabbed by Congress workers who beat him before the police took him into custody. "The attack was pre-planned," said Mr Dwivedi minutes later. "He appears to be an RSS activist," said the always-controversial Digvijaya Singh, who is the General Secretary of the Congress. (
Watch) "Another party spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan said, "It was very obvious that the same communal and divisive forces that were behind the agitation (supporting Ramdev) have planned this attack."
Before the attempted assault on him, Mr Dwivedi had mocked yoga guru Ramdev for dressing as a woman to avoid being arrested by the police on Saturday night. The yoga teacher's hunger strike against corruption was interrupted by the Delhi Police on late Saturday night. The government had ordered the police to dismantle the camp and force the yoga icon out of Ramlila Maidan. There were 65,000 people at the Baba's camp when the police lathicharged and teargassed the crowd. After a dramatic chase that ended with the yoga icon being discovered dressed as a woman, the Baba was flown to Uttarakhand.
The government has been submerged in criticism since then by every major political party and social activists. Mr Dwivedi was defending the government's decision to pull the plug on the Baba's camp at the official Congress briefing this evening.
Mr Kumar arrived in Delhi last night from Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan, according to the Delhi Police. He asked Mr Dwivedi if Baba Ramdev has replaced the BJP as the main enemy of the Congress. When Mr Dwivedi did not respond, Mr Kumar held up his slipper and said, "It seems you only respond when a shoe is shown to you."
The BJP said the Congress should introspect on why the country is so furious with the government. "The Congress' actions have maligned the nation...common people are unhappy with them," said party spokesperson Shanawaz Hussain.