NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s close confidant and home minister Dilip Walse-Patil slammed former CM Devendra Fadnavis, BJP and MNS chief Raj Thackeray for attacking his boss saying it has become a ‘’favourite trend.’’
On the other hand, state NCP chief spokesperson Mahesh Tapase alleged that it was BJP’s strategy to brand Pawar and NCP communal as they cannot beat the party's growth and development works.
Walse said, "It has become a favourite trend of people to give statements against Sharad Pawar. Everyone knows his role in politics, I don't think tweeting against him would benefit anyone in any way."
"Devendra Fadnavis' allegations are baseless, there is no truth in them. BJP has linked Sharad Pawar's name to Dawood Ibrahim earlier too. They have distorted facts and linked Nawab Malik and Sharad Pawar to Dawood Ibrahim, which is not correct," he added.
Walse-Patil was reacting to Fadnavis accusing Pawar of appeasement politics through 14 tweets.
Further, Tapase said by calling NCP communal & targeting Pawar, Fadanvis is trying to paint a communal picture. "Isn’t it ironical that MNS chief Raj Thackeray parroted the same lines a few days ago?" he asked.
In the aftermath of the 1993 Bomb blast, Pawar did mention the 13th bomb blast (which actually never happened) which he announced on Doordarshan only with a humanitarian angle to prevent large scale communal riots in Mumbai & Maharashtra. This act of Pawar was highly appreciated by the Justice SriKrishna Commission as hundreds of innocent lives had been saved. "Is Fadanvis hinting that by averting a communal clash & saving the lives of hundreds of innocent citizens Pawar has done something wrong? Or the BJP at that time wanted a communal riot to happen. It was the administrative acumen of Pawar that Mumbai was back to routine in a matter of only two days," said Tapase.
Pawar has tirelessly worked to bring in the most disadvantaged group in mainstream development. Here caste, creed & religion are insignificant. "Dr BR Ambedkar as Chairman of the drafting committee of the Constitution had said the two things need to be safeguarded, a) the principle of equality of opportunity & b) the demand of the communities which has had no representation so far. Does Fadanvis know this?"asked Tapase.
Pawar’s views on abrogation of Article 370 made in 2019 have been completely misquoted by Fadanvis. In the run up of 2019 elections of Maharashtra, BJP was trying to build a narrative over Article 370 to which Pawar had said that the BJP is skirting real issues of farmer suicide & rising unemployment in Maharashtra.
"A high-level committee under Justice Rajendra Sachar was set up to study social, educational & economic status of Muslim community in India. What’s wrong to demand implementation of a report of a Government committee. Fadanvis has conveniently forgotten that Pawar was the first in the country to implement the recommendations of Mandal commission which was set up by the Janata Party Government of Morarji Desai. Does Fadanvis have objection to the implementation of the Mandal commission & reservation to OBCs also?" he asked.
"During insurgency in Kashmir, all the peace-loving citizens of the valley including Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists etc were subjected to atrocities. A film (The Kashmir Files) depicting only one side narrative raises suspicion about the behind the scene political intent of the film. Fadanvis should elaborate on what plans does the Modi Govt have to re-establish all the displaced citizens back in the valley," noted Tapase.
