Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren termed the hooting he faced by a section of crowd at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's function in Ranchi on Thursday as "rape of democracy", while his party Jharkhand Mukti Morcha demanded a public apology from Modi.
"The unseemly and disrespectful approach during my speech is rape of the democratic system," Soren told the media, hours after being hooted by alleged BJP activists who even ignored the prime minister's wave for restraint.
"This way democracy will crumble," Soren said and asked "What will happen to democracy?"
An official release also quoted him as saying that he was deeply hurt by the hooting which was "disrespectful, unseemly and contrary to democratic values. I was speaking as a chief minister in the prime minister's function. It's an insult to the state and its people."
Soren was hooted by the crowd when he came to speak on the occasion of unveiling of a slew of developmental projects by the PM at Prabhat Tara Ground at Dhurwa area.
The incident was a repeat of what happened recently in other states, the release said.
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his Maharashtra counterpart Prithviraj Chavan were hooted by crowds in the presence of the Prime Minister recently in separate programmes.
JMM, meanwhile, demanded a public apology from Modi for hooting "by BJP workers" and threatened that the party would protest every visit by any central minister to the state.
"The JMM demands from the Prime Minister to give up the desire to abrogate federal system for being individual-centric and render a public apology," a JMM release said.
"Otherwise, JMM activists will protest visits of central ministers to Jharkhand in a democratic manner," it said.
The release accused BJP activists of working as an organised unsocial outfit destroying Jharkhand's culture and tradition.
