New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS): Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) members, including Supriya Sule, the daughter of union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Thursday condemned the attack on him and said violence had no place in democracy.

Sule, a member of parliament of the NCP, said the incident should be forgotten.

"Whatever happened is unfortunate but everybody has the right to protest in a democracy, but violence has to be condemned...We don't want to blame anyone for this attack," said Sule.

"I urge every member of our party not to react and this is an unfortunate incident. Let's forget about it and move ahead," she added.

Sule said her father was lucky to escape the attack unhurt.

"I've heard that he (the attacker) also took out a weapon and I consider him (Pawar) lucky that he was not attacked with it," she said, adding that Delhi Police was not to be blamed for the incident.

"We all are working together to tackle the issue of rising prices in the country."

Pawar was slapped by a turbaned Sikh man, Harvinder Singh, who had also attacked former telecommunications minister Sukh Ram outside a court here four days ago.

Singh whipped out his kirpan (small knife, a Sikh religious symbol) when security guards tried to overpower him.

Singh was detained by the police.

NCP general secretary Tariq Anwar said the attack should be taken seriously as it proves that nobody is safe.

"If he had not been stopped on time, he could have attacked with the knife he was holding, which would have been fatal," said Anwar.