'Centre's responsibility to maintain law and order, it failed': Sharad Pawar on Delhi violence

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar blamed the central government for Tuesday's violence in Delhi, saying it failed in their duty to maintain law and order. He also said that the government of India did not take the protesting farmers seriously. Pawar’s remarks came after a group of farmers deviated from the proposed route of tractor rally and marched towards central Delhi, resulting in clashes with the police in many areas.

“Farmers from Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh held protest in a disciplined manner but govt didn't take them seriously. As restraint ended, the tractor march was taken out. Centre's responsibility was to keep law & order in control but they failed,” news agency ANI quoted Pawar as saying.

The NCP chief also said that the protesting farmers had grown angry as the Centre did not fulfill their responsibility. “Nobody will support whatever happened today but the reason behind it cannot be ignored either. Those sitting calmly grew angry, the Centre didn't fulfill its responsibility. Govt should act maturely & take the right decision,” he added.

Appealing to the protesting farmers to return peacefully, Pawar assured that the opposition supports the cause of the farmers. "The way the agitation handled today is regrettable. We all sitting in Opposition support the farmers' cause and I appeal -- now you (farmers) should go back to your respective villages peacefully and should not give any opportunity to the govt to blame you," he said.

Pawar, a former Union agriculture minister, addressed a protest in Mumbai’s Azad Maidan on Monday where he slammed the central government and the governor of Maharashtra for their behaviour towards the farmers. “The BJP-led NDA passed the laws without any discussion in parliament and in just one day on the basis of the majority. The Modi government has attempted to uproot the farmers through these laws, but the farmers have the power to uproot political leaders who have been acting arrogantly,” he said.

Several other political leaders, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, condemned the violence and urged the central government to repeal the farm laws and restore law and order in the national capital.