Union Minister Giriraj Singh is said to have been attacked at a public event in Bihar

Union Minister Giriraj Singh speaks to the press after he was allegedly attacked by a person during a programme in Begusarai district on Saturday. | Photo: PTI

Union minister and BJP MP from Begusarai in Biha, Giriraj Singh, was allegedly attacked at a public event in his constituency on Saturday. The alleged attacker was later taken into police custody.

Later, Mr Singh said in a post on social networking site X that he was not afraid of such things and would continue to raise his voice against those who wanted to destroy social peace.

“If he had had a gun in his hand, he would have killed me the way he attacked me. His attack failed. He used abusive words, but no matter how many terrorists come, it will not affect me,” Mr Singh later told reporters.

Mr Singh was allegedly attacked while holding a Janata Durbar, a public information programme, in Begusarai, about 130 kilometres from Patna.

The alleged attacker stormed the event, grabbed the microphone, shouted slogans against the minister and cried Subscribe (down with him) as the minister ended the event. “As I was leaving the event, the man forcibly took the microphone away from me and acted as if he was going to attack me,” the minister said.

The alleged attacker was soon overpowered by the crowd gathered at the event and handed over to the police. “The person is in police custody and investigation is on,” said Begusarai police chief Maneesh.

Speaking to presspersons, Mr Singh also claimed that politicians like Tejashwi Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party “may support the attacker because of his looks”. “Unfortunately, Tejashwi Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav will support him just because he (the attacker) had a beard, but I am not afraid of such things,” claimed Mr Singh, who is known for his hardline Hindutva stance and comments in the media.