Serbian Radical Party deputy Zoran Krasic said in the Serbian parliament on Tuesday that some members of the family of Agriculture Minister Ivana Dulic-Markovic, the only Croat in the Serbian government, had been Ustasha.
"The latest assault by the Radicals and the grave insult levelled against the minister are yet another warning that Serbia must get in the way of people who promote their personal or party interests by spreading hatred towards other peoples," reads a statement by HNV leader Josip Pekanovic.
Pekanovic went on to say that there had never been members of the Ustasha movement among the local Croat community, which had lived in Vojvodina for centuries, including the minister's family.
He called on Serbian state institutions to take appropriate measures.
The leader of the Democratic Alliance of the Vojvodina Croats, Petar Kuntic, said that members of the local Croat community were more and more disappointed because they had the impression that the situation in the country had not changed significantly since the 1990s.
The Subotica branch of the G17 party, whose member Dulic-Markovic is, issued a statement saying that the only solution for Serbia was for its citizens to take to the streets in large numbers and show whether somebody's nationality was the biggest problem in the country.
The leader of the Radical Party branch in Subotica, where the minister lives, would not comment on his party colleague's statement in parliament, saying that he had no right to do so.
The incident in the Serbian parliament was condemned yesterday by the leader of the Serb National Council in Croatia, Milorad Pupovac.