Stung by Cong criticism, Pawar rakes up emergency

NCP chief and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has raked up the Emergency, rubbing the Congress the wrong way again.

NCP chief and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has raked up the Emergency, rubbing the Congress the wrong way again.

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Addressing an NCP youth wing workshop on Friday, he stressed the need to strengthen parliamentary democracy.

“Youth in politics should not remain far away from parliamentary democracy. This was Jawaharlal Nehru’s view also. The Congress at one time drifted away from this but the people did not accept it. Even Indira Gandhi had to suffer defeat. People did not accept the country drifting away from democratic ideals,” Pawar said.

By alluding to the Emergency, Pawar sought to get back at the Congress, which has recently been critical of him. Many senior Congress leaders had blamed Pawar for spiraling prices of essential commodities and the IPL controversy.

Pawar, however did not stop there. He said Maoism was not just a law-and-order problem but also a socio-economic issue that had to be addressed through development schemes. “We should analyse where does Naxalism take place. In places where there is injustice and where fruits of democracy don’t reach the poor,” he said.