Reeli siddhi,November 25 : After committing a faux-pas in his reaction to the attack on Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Anna Hazare said tonight that he was ready to apologise if his remark was perceived to be “wrong”.
“He got slapped! Only one slap?” Hazare had said to a group of journalists at Ralegan Siddhi when he learnt about the attack on Thursday. But later he condemned the attack.
Explaining what he meant by his remark, Hazare, talking to a Marathi news-channel, was at pains to explain the faux pas saying “I was addressing a daily gathering of people when someone sent me a note informing about the attack. I wanted to know whether it was just a slap or there was some other kind of violence.”
The social activist said he did not say or mean anything inappropriate when he said “ek hi mara?”. He always believed in non-violent method of agitation, Hazare said.
“However, if it is perceived that I have said something wrong, I am ready to apologise,” he said.
Pawar was slapped by Harvinder Singh, a transporter in his thirties, at a public auditorium in Delhi on Thursday.
Pawar reacts
Anna Hazare Thursday got a new sobriquet “new Gandhian” from Sharad Pawar who took a dig at the activist over his reaction to the slapping incident, saying Hazare had given a “new definition” to the philosophy espoused by the Mahatama.
“He (Hazare) has a new definition about Gandhism. He is a new Gandhian,” the Union Agriculture Minister retorted.
Earlier in the day, Hazare had tied himself in knots with his reaction to the attack on Pawar, first appearing to respond with contempt and later condemning it.
“He got slapped! Only one slap?” he said to a group of journalists who broke into peals of laughter at his reaction.
But later coming out of the room, he condemned the incident saying such acts of violence were not good.
Pawar appealed to his supporters in Maharashtra to maintain calm following demonstrations by NCP workers in Mumbai and other parts of the state in protest against the attack on him.
At the AICC briefing, party spokesman Manish Tewari also frowned upon Hazare’s reaction on the attack on Pawar.
“There is nothing Gandhian about violence. It is a contradiction in terms. If you are Gandhian, then I think the first premise of being a Gandhian is your commitment to non-violence,” Tewari remarked.