Two activists of a fringe Hindu rights group affiliated to Hindu Sena disrupted a press conference being addressed by CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury at the party headquarters near Gol Market on Wednesday.
Delhi police detained Upendra Kumar and Pawan Kaul at the Mandir Marg Police Station for protesting against the CPI (M) for their article against the Indian Army.
Around 4.00 p.m, Yechury was about to enter the party's press conference hall when two people shouting "Bharat Mata ki Jai" rushed menacingly towards Yechury. Alert Left party workers caught hold of him and his accomplice and thrashed the two before handing them over to police. But they shouted slogans of "Hindu Sena zindabad" and "CPI (M) murdabad".
Top opposition leaders including Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, her party vice president and son Rahul Gandhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, JD (U)'s Sharad Yadav and CPI national secretary D Raja condemned the incident and expressed solidarity with Yechury. Both were said to be from the Hindu Sena.
Another top BJP leader, J. Padmakumar, said their party or its organisations did not involve in such activities.
BJP meanwhile said, the police vans parked near the district office moved away a few minutes before the attack.
The two who belong to Hindu Sena were handed over to police. All political parties condemned the attack.
The party said the incident was "typical of the RSS methodology of seeking to browbeat and intimidate the Opposition". Soon after, Mr Yechury tweeted: We will not be cowed down by any attempts of Sangh's goondagardi to silence us.
Vijayan said the CPI-M would move forward by uniting people against the "Hindutuva fascist violence". "It is unfortunate that the CPM is targeting the RSS and BJP".
Condemning the whole incident, Kerala CM Pinarayi Viijayan called it "an attack on Indian democracy". "We will not tolerate it and will counter it", Karat told ANI.
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