Pawars attack BJP, right-wing groups for promoting hate against minorities

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Thursday came down heavily on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and right-wing groups for targeting minority communities

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Thursday came down heavily on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and right-wing groups for targeting minority communities.

Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar. File Photo

While senior Pawar spoke about how The Kashmir Files movie was being used to promote hatred against minorities, the deputy CM said people should think about the issues they were engaged in even after 75 years of India’s independence and where the world was heading.

Ajit Pawar was reacting to BJP’s demand to stop the use of loudspeakers at mosques as they were creating “noise pollution”.

The NCP chief accused the BJP of creating a “poisonous atmosphere” in the country by spreading “false propaganda” about the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from Jammu and Kashmir. He also said the Kashmiri Pandits had to leave the valley, but Muslims too were targeted in a similar manner.

“Such a film should not have been cleared for screening. But it is given tax concessions and those responsible for keeping the country united are encouraging people to watch the film that stokes anger,” Pawar said while addressing a convention of the minorities department of the party’s Delhi unit.

“Pakistan-based terror groups were responsible for the attacks on Kashmiri Pandits and Muslims,” he added.

The former defence minister said if the BJP-led Narendra Modi government really cared about Kashmiri Pandits, it should make efforts for their rehabilitation and not to stoke anger in their mind against minorities.

Further slamming BJP for dragging the first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, into the controversy over exodus of Kashmir Pandits, Pawar said the VP Singh-led government was in power in the country and not Congress, as portrayed in the movie (The Kashmir Files).

“The VP Singh government was backed by BJP,” he said, adding, “Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was the home minister and Jagmohan, who later contested the Lok Sabha polls from Delhi as a BJP candidate, was the governor of Jammu and Kashmir when the exodus occurred.”

The NCP chief said the then Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, Farooq Abdullah, had quit following differences with Jagmohan and it was the governor who facilitated the departure of Kashmiri Pandits from the valley.

The deputy CM said, “In the recent days, we have started discussing such issues [that promote hatred against minorities] more than discussing development works. In my view, all political parties and their leaders need to make attempts to maintain social harmony. This August 15, we are completing 75 years of independence and we need to think about the issues we are engaging people in and where the world is heading. People need to think about this seriously.”

Claiming that it leads to noise pollution, the BJP’s Mumbai unit said it wanted mosques to stop using loudspeakers. A delegation headed by BJP’s city chief Mangal Prabhat Lodha recently met Mumbai police commissioner Sanjay Pandey seeking a ban on their use.