A 19-year-old woman on Monday approached police here alleging that vulgar comments were being made against her on social media, after she confronted Madhya Pradesh minister Tulsiram Silawat, a former Congress leader, over his joining the BJP and causing the collapse of the erstwhile Kamal Nath government.
The incident occurred on Sunday when the Water Resources Minister was interacting with residents of some societies in Indore to discuss their problems.
Silawat had served a minister in the previous Nath cabinet as well.
In her complaint with police, the Indore resident stated that some trolls raised questions about her character and made vulgar comments after she posted video of the incident.
Lasudia police station in-charge Indramani Patel confirmed receipt of a complaint from the woman.
“Investigation is underway. No FIR is registered yet,” Patel said.
In the video of the incident, the woman can be heard asking Silawat, “I want to ask you one thing. You were in the Congress earlier and suddenly joined the BJP. You caused the collapse of a good government. How did you feel?” While Silawat looked uncomfortable, he can be heard saying that he is still sitting among the common people.
Even before Silawat could complete, the woman says, “We talk about farmers. A few days ago your (leader) Jyotiraditya Scindia had tweeted that (during the tenure of the previous Kamal Nath government) the loan of many farmers was waived. Then suddenly Scindia said that no loan of farmers has been waived”.
When some participants of the meeting intervened, the woman can be heard saying she is also a voter.
Meanwhile, after lodging the complaint with police about trolling, the woman told reporters that she had posed questions to Silawat in her capacity as a voter.
“As soon as I posted a video of this incident on social media, some people used words like a bar girl and a prostitute,” she told reporters.
“I am neither a journalist nor a Congress worker. I have no connection with any political party. I am just an activist and I just voiced my democratic rights. But since then, very cheap comments are being made about me,” she said.
Silawat is considered close to Scindia, whose exit from the Congress along with 22 sitting MLAs led to the collapse of the Kamal Nath government on March 20.
The BJP formed the government under Shivraj Singh Chouhan after the rebel MLAs joined the saffron party.