Kannada Minister Shivaraj Thangadagi tells Congress workers to slap anyone who chants Modi's name, FIR registered

The Koppal district police have registered an FIR against the state's Kannada & Culture Minister Shivaraj Thangadagi over his alleged call to Congress workers to slap the youth and students who chant Modi.

The FIR came following a complaint from the poll authorities who acted on a complaint from the BJP.

Thangadagi, while addressing partymen in Koppal Lok Sabha constituency on Sunday, asked his partymen to give a tight slap on the face if any youth or student uttered the name, Modi.


The Minister, mounting an attack on the PM, said Modi promised to create 20 million jobs a year, and if he had walked the talk, the country would have had 200 million new jobs in the past 10 years. But the PM was now asking the unemployed youth to go and sell Pakoras, the minister said, and added if they still uttered the name Modi, they deserved a slap.

His remarks created a furor and widespread condemnation on social media. The Minister later clarified it was only a way of talking in his part of Karnataka, and he did not literally mean it.

BJP Parliamentary Board member BS Yediyurappa on Wednesday disapproved of Thangadagi's comments about a "globally respected leader."