Devendra Fadnavis calls out Sharad Pawar for ‘appeasement’ politics

Devendra Fadnavis

The dust has not yet settled on the offensive between Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray and Sharad Pawar, and opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis has accused the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) boss of appeasement politics and polarising society on communal basis.

Fadnavis posted a 14-tweet thread on Thursday to level allegations and substantiate them by providing web links to the material he based his statements on. Early this week, Thackeray accused Pawar for the proliferation of caste politics in Maharashtra. The NCP chief came out with a strong rebuttal on Wednesday, calling MNS the BJP's Team-B. Politics has been charged up ever since.

Fadnavis began his attack with Pawar's view against abrogation of article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir. "On one hand, we are celebrating the birth anniversary of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar ji, who was against the inclusion of #Article370 granting special status to Jammu & Kashmir. But look what is being said going against the wishes & values of Dr.Ambedkar ji!" he wrote, adding that Pawar's statements about a movie The Kashmir Files weren't surprising. The film doesn't suit the pseudo secular agenda (of Pawar), he stated further.

"In fact, they (statements) are totally in line with NCP's decades old track record of appeasement policy & politics and polarising the society on communal basis," the ex-CM wrote.

Another tweet dealt with Pawar's statement that Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik was arrested for money-laundering linked with the activities of underworld criminal Dawood Ibrahim because he was Muslim. He dug into the past, saying that Pawar had gone on record in 2013, by saying (a woman from Mumbra) Ishrat Jahaan was innocent.

"Not only Ishrat Jahan was called ‘innocent' but senior leaders of NCP have extended help to her and even went to the extent of demeaning the IB even though they themselves were in power at that time," said the BJP leader.

‘NCP went soft'

Fadnavis said the home department held by the NCP had gone soft on the perpetrators of the violence at Azad Maidan in 2012. "The Amar Jawan Jyoti was desecrated but NCP, which held the Home Ministry portfolio was soft on Raza Academy and changed the Mumbai CP instead," added the leader.

He said the NCP has grand plans to approve a Muslim quota in Maharashtra "even though our Constitution does not provide such a provision". He said Pawar invoked minorities by telling them that they decided whom to defeat, and the NCP chief was the first person to use the word ‘Hindu Terror'.

Fadnavis said Pawar's invention of the 13th blast on March 12, 1993, was an act of appeasement. "When Mumbai was shaken with 12 bomb blasts, Sharad Pawar ji invented a 13th blast in a Muslim area. Instead of law and order, appeasement was his first priority. Why such double standards when we expect communal harmony," he wrote, concluding that such acts and approach of disturbing the social harmony cannot be accepted in Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar's India.

Ministerspeak

Senior NCP leader and home minister Dilip Walse Patil said the BJP has always been trying to link various things with Pawar, and linking him with Dawood was part of it and nothing has come out of it. About allegations that Malik was defended only because he was a Muslim, the minister said, "An old case related to Malik has been dug out. It's a case that happened much before the PMLA (the act under which Malik has been arrested). They have tried to link him with Dawood despite him having no deal with him [Dawood]." On article 370, he said the NCP and the Congress's views on the issue are very clear and added the JP government had denied quota in education to Muslims despite court orders.
Shiv Sena leader and minister Aaditya Thackeray said the BJP and MNS should talk about issues like inflation and fuel price hike that affect people more than anything else.