JMM party workers show black flags to Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh in Jharkhand

Party workers of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on showed black flags to the Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, upon his arrival on Monday. Singh had visited Ranchi to participate in an official programme.

The protest was seen as retaliation to the booing of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren by workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a function here on August 22.

Staging a protest in Ranchi, JMM secretary, Vinod Pandey, demanded an apology from Modi. "The way honorable chief minister as well as people of the state were insulted in the presence of Prime Minister, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha will not tolerate it at any cost. Until Bharatiya Janata Party and prime minister apologise, we will keep the protest on and if anybody tries to provoke us, the result will be bad," said Pandey.

The BJP workers had started hooting during Soren's speech at a function to unveil a slew of developmental projects by Modi. They had even ignored Modi's request to restrain.

JMM had threatened that they would protest against any union minister visiting Jharkhand.

Last week on Saturday, JMM workers had showed black flags to minister for labour and employment, Narendra Singh Tomar.

Similar experiences of hooting had been experienced by Haryana Chief Minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and his Maharashtra counterpart, Prithviraj Chavan during their speeches, at two different events in the previous week.