New Delhi: Sharad Pawar of the NCP (SP) on Wednesday alleged that the stand taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently could increase communal disharmony in the country instead of bringing communities closer.
Speaking at a rally for his party’s candidate Bhaskar Bhagare in Dindori (ST) Lok Sabha constituency of Maharashtra, Sharad Pawar said, “Narendra Modi is the first prime minister of the country who has taken positions that would increase the communal disharmony between various religions and castes. I heard his speech today in Nashik, and it was as per my expectations. He should have taken positions that will bring the communities and religious groups closer.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded sitting MP and Union minister of state for health Bharti Pawar from the Dindori (ST) seat.
Earlier on Wednesday, addressing a rally in the same constituency, PM Narendra Modi alleged that the Congress, during its rule at the Centre, had planned to allocate 15 per cent of the budget to Muslims.
Sharad Pawar also mentioned water scarcity in the region. “Nashik district has an issue of water availability anddistribution. Some of the available water is diverted towards Gujarat; what is the state leadership doing about it?” he asked.
Meanwhile, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram also hit out at Modi saying the prime minister’s statements are increasingly bizarre and show that “his speech writers have lost their balance”.
“Yesterday, he claimed that if he played the Hindu-Muslim divide, he would not be fit to be in public life. Today, he played his usual game of dividing Hindus and Muslims. The Hon’ble PM’s accusation that Dr Manmohan Singh had drawn up a plan to spend 15 per cent of the Union Budget exclusively on Muslims is totally false,” P Chidambaram wrote on X (formally Twitter).
