Bhubaneswar, Aug. 7: Growing political violence, the latest being the alleged assault on BJP workers by BJD at Manmunda, has left people and some politicians worried.

"Tolerance of criticism is a must in a democracy, which has no place for violence," said writer Bibhuti Patnaik, who was disturbed by recent incidents of violence, including the one that took place on July 30 at Manmunda in Boudh district where a group of BJP protesters were allegedly thrashed by BJD leaders. A BJD MLA and a councillor were also involved in the attack.

On June 24, BJD leaders, including an MLA, had allegedly attacked the car of Union textile minister Santosh Gangwar during his visit to Bargarh. On July 29, BJD and Opposition councillors came to blows at the council meeting of Cuttack Municipal Corporation while discussing the issue of dengue outbreak.

This trend has forced authorities to enhance security for VVIPs. This was visible during the visit of chief minister Naveen Patnaik to the Utkal University campus last Monday. Around 900 policemen were present, even though preventive arrests of National Students Union of India and ABVP activists had already been made.

Naveen himself arrived at the venue with an escort of 1,500 motorcycle-riding youths and a human chain created by members of the ruling party. The unprecedented security recalled the February 2015, incident when eggs were pelted at the chief minister's car while Naveen was on his way to Utkal University.

Police action of booking the protesters in the Utkal University case under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code notwithstanding, there has been no let up in the trend of political violence.

"During our days, such incidents were rare. The only attack being on former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at a public event in Bhubaneswar in the 1960s. But nowadays, physical attack on political opponents have become more common," said writer Patnaik, who was also a socialist leader.

Stating that democracy thrives on mutual tolerance, Patnaik said: "There should be tolerance towards protest or criticism. It should not the responded to by violence. Sometimes offensive language is being used which hurts even more than physical assault."

Former minister and also a former student leader, Panchanan Kanungo, said: "There were black flag demonstrations and police action in our days. But workers of a political party beating up opponents, that too in front of the police, had never happened."

Artist Dinanath Pathy said the trend developing in the state was "frustrating and irritating". "Politicians should behave maturely and try to do good to the people at large instead of reacting violently to protests and criticism," he said.

Kulamani Deo, a retired IPS officer, said the trend of attacks on politicians' vehicles was disturbing. "What is worse is that the police personnel on duty are blamed if such incidents take place," he said.

D.K. Dwivedy, a retired bureaucrat and social activist, said there was a time when politicians criticised their opponents for faulty decisions, but also appreciated the good deeds of their rivals. "Nowadays, attacking rivals over every issue has become the norm," he said, adding that leaders should refrain from making physical assault.

Sociologists say that politicians have become oversensitive to protests and media criticism as they are unsure of themselves.

Sociologist Rita Ray called the trend of political violence "vulgar modernism".