One should not take Raj Thackeray seriously: Sharad Pawar

NCP chief Sharad Pawar at a press conference on Wednesday. Pic/Suresh Karkera

Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar matched ‘barb for barb' and ‘swipe for swipe' while returning salvos fired by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray, who targeted NCP leaders on Tuesday at a public rally in Thane. Pawar said one should not take Raj Thackeray, who speaks once a year, seriously, and yet responded to certain charges, reminding the MNS chief that waking up early in the morning helps one gain knowledge through reading newspapers before speaking rubbish against anyone. About Thackeray's ultimatum on removing loudspeakers from the mosques by May 3, Pawar put the ball in the state government's court, saying it should think seriously about it.

On Ajit Pawar

Pawar responded to allegations made by Thackeray one by one, insisting that the MNS chief played into the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party to divide the people on communal lines. Citing that Thackeray didn't discuss people-related issues like inflation, fuel prices and unemployment, and did not say a word against the BJP in his speech, Pawar said it was clear that the MNS was the BJP's Team-B that the ruling party at the Centre has been guiding. "I don't know the understanding between the MNS and BJP," he said.

When asked about Thackeray's accusation that Pawar did not approach the PM when his nephew and his sisters were raided by the Enforcement Directorate, but he did it after Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut's family's assets were attached, Pawar said it wasn't a political question. "I'm an MP and there is nothing wrong with meeting the PM. I have discussed the pending issue of MLC nominations and other issues," he said. "We [Ajit and I] are the same. Whatever happens to him also happens to me. Isn't Supriya [Sule] Ajit's sister? It's a childish allegation," he said, with reference to Thackeray's observation that Ajit was raided but Supriya spared.

On Chhatrapai Shivaji

Pawar said Thackeray should see/read what he had said about Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at a function in Amravati two days ago before raising a finger at him. "One has to wake up early in the morning to read newspapers," he said, adding that invoking Mahatma Phule, Shahu Maharaj and Dr Ambedkar was nothing but invoking Shivaji Maharaj, because all three social reformers represented the Maratha King's ideology. "Remember that the first person to write on Shivaji Maharaj was Mahatma Phule."

Countering the allegation that Pawar and his sidekick Maratha organisations targeted a historian, the late Babasaheb Purandare, Pawar said he protested against Purandare's writings on Shivaji Maharaj's mother Rajmata Jijabai. "I have spoken openly against Purandare, and I'm proud of doing that. Even [controversial author] James Laine admitted that Purandare had shared information about Rajmata with him. Purandare has never given an explanation for this."

He also negated the allegation of fuelling caste politics and said the state NCP was headed by OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal and tribal leader Madhukar Pichad while Dhananjay Munde was the Opposition leader in the upper house.

On alleged atheism

Dismissing a charge that he was atheist, Pawar said he visits a mandir in Baramati but doesn't spin a web of publicity around it. "I follow Prabodhankar Thackeray [Raj and Uddhav Thackeray's social reformer grandfather]. I read his works, but it seems the family doesn't," he said, taking a swipe at Raj.

He said he did not change his position to join the Congress in the government after splitting the party over Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin. "My opinion was public even then. But the issue ended once Sonia Gandhi herself said she was not interested in becoming the PM. We joined the government and are still together. People should read about it. I haven't changed my position for no reason," he said.

Talking about Kirit Somaiya's case, he objected to transferring the money collected for saving INS Vikrant to the BJP. "The money could be given to the Army and other defence funds. Transferring the money, whether it is some thousands or Rs 50 crore, to the BJP is objectionable."