Indian minister arrested for threatening to slap political rival

Supporters of Narayan Rane and Maharashtra’s ruling party locked horns over the arrest

Indian federal Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Narayan Rane (Screengrab)

A federal minister was arrested and later released on bail for saying he wanted to slap the chief minister of an Indian state for allegedly forgetting the year India won Independence.

Narayan Rane courted controversy on Monday when he said that Maharastra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray "forgot" the year of India's independence during his 15 August speech. He added that he would have "slapped" Mr Thackeray had he been present there.

The federal minister and lawmaker from India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was arrested from a camp in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district when he was en route to a party event in the Konkan region. Mr Rane had been touring the state as a part of his party's outreach programme ahead of the state elections in 2024.

He faces four police complaints across the state for “threat of injury to a public servant, an intentional insult to provoke breach of public speech and statements conducive to public mischief.”

The court in its bail order directed Mr Rane to be present before the Ratnagiri police station on 31 August and 13 September for inquiry. The court has also asked him to refrain from committing a similar kind of mistake in the future.

The arrest led to several clashes in the state between the BJP supporters and the workers of Mr Thackeray's Shiv Sena party who took to the streets to protest against Mr Rane and pelted stones at the BJP party office in Nashik city.

Meanwhile, Vinayak Raut, a lawmaker from Shiv Sena, has written to prime minister Narendra Modi demanding Mr Rane's removal from the cabinet of ministers. "The language and the remarks of Narayan Rane against the Maharashtra chief minister are not justified. A politician like him who does not know his limits has no place in the union cabinet. I request you to seek Rane's resignation and oust him from the central government," the letter read.

The BJP's state unit chief Chandrakant Patil said that they would continue with their programme despite the prohibitory orders. He said: “Victory of truth. The court has shown this government its place".

Both parties were former allies until 2019 when they had a fallout over a power-sharing agreement following state elections in Maharashtra.