Mumbai: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress workers clashed at a rally being addressed by Congress Mumbai North candidate and Hindi film actress Urmila Matondkar here Monday morning.
According to witnesses, the incident occurred when Matondkar was addressing a large crowd of people outside Borivali West station when some alleged BJP activists attempted to barge into the venue.
Raising slogans of ‘Modi, Modi’ they engaged in a verbal duel with the Congress activists who shouted back ‘Modi chor hai’.
As Matondkar attempted to speak, some of the BJP-Congress workers pushed, punched and kicked each other in a free for all.
The police who were present managed to bring the situation under control and later Matondkar went to the local police station to lodge a complaint.
She said in her speech that ‘women are not safe in the country and today’s incident was a proof of this’ but vowed she would not be cowed down by the strong-arm tactics of the BJP.
Matondkar, who has been aggressively campaigning in Mumbai North, has caught public attention by her interactive style, mingling with the common masses, singing with youngsters and playing cricket with youth.
In this constituency, she is pitted against BJP’s sitting MP Gopal Shetty, who had defeated Congress’ Sanjay Nirupam in 2014.
IANS