Amit Shah failed to maintain peace and unity: Sharad Pawar on Delhi riots

Pawar said that the country is going through challenging times as people are being polarised wherever the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in power.

Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday slammed union home minister Amit Shah for failing to maintain peace and unity among religious groups in Delhi amid the recent communal riots. Pawar said that the country is going through challenging times as people are being polarised wherever the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in power.

Sharad Pawar was speaking at the concluding ceremony of ‘Parivar Samwad Yatra’ (Uday Deolekar/HT Photo)

Pawar was speaking at the concluding ceremony of ‘Parivar Samwad Yatra’, a statewide tour launched by the state president and senior minister Jayant Patil. The tour started in January last year continued in phases and concluded in Kolhapur with a massive rally attended by lakhs of people on Saturday.

“We have been watching the incidents in Delhi in the last few days. People were attacked, and arson and riots took place. Who is governing Delhi? Though Arvind Kejriwal is ruling the state, Delhi’s home department is with the BJP and Amit Shah (union home minister). He (Amit Shah) failed in maintaining peace and unity in the country’s capital. Whatever happens in Delhi sends a message across the world and in this case, it has sent a message of instability in the country,” Pawar said.

The responsibility of resolving issues and keeping the country united is with those who get elected to power but today there is a different picture, the NCP chief said while targeting the BJP over the communal divide.

Karnataka too has seen communal riots and you will be surprised to hear that boards have been placed asking people not to buy things from shops owned by people from the minority communities and not eat in hotels run by them, the former chief minister said.

“What messages are we giving and all those giving such messages are from the ruling party. All this is happening wherever BJP is in power. It is a sort of challenging situation before us,” he charged.

The veteran leader accused the BJP of using the ‘Kashmir Files’ movie for creating a religious divide. “All have the right to seek votes but not by creating hate among communities. The objective of ‘Kashmir Files’ was to create religious divide and polarization and all this was done by the BJP. It happened because people don’t know what exactly happened in Kashmir. At the time of the exodus of Kashmir Pandits, VP Singh’s government was ruling the country with BJP’s support,” he pointed out.

The former union minister further targeted the BJP-led central government for being partial with other states over Gujarat. Earlier, world leaders used to visit different cities and states during their visit to the country but now, US President Donald Trump goes to Gujarat during his visit, and China president Xi Jinping visits India and goes to Gujarat. Recently Britain prime minister Boris Johnson also visited Gujarat.

“If Centre is sending the world leaders to only one state then this narrow mindedness is not in the interest of the country,” Pawar said.