Economy, unrest among people over NRC led to BJP’s defeat in Jharkhand: Sharad Pawar

Pawar said the issues such as NRC were brought forth to divert the attention from economic problem but people voted on basic issues.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said the impact of slowdown in economy on common man and unrest among the people due to issues such as National Register of Citizens (NRC) led to BJP’s defeat in Jharkhand.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar speaks at a news conference in Mumbai, on November 23, 2019. (Reuter Photo)

“The common man is affected due to the slowdown in the economy. It reflected in the election results. Besides, the unrest among the people over the issues such as NRC led to people voting against the BJP,” Pawar said shortly after the trends in Jharkhand showed a decisive victory for Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) alliance.

Pawar said the issues such as NRC were brought forth to divert the attention from economic problem but people voted on basic issues.

Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Jharkhand results have shown that how policies implemented by BJP without taking Opposition into confidence are not liked by common people, Pawar said, adding “I will not be surprised if the Maharashtra pattern will be followed across the country.”

Pawar also said he was surprised by PM Modi’s statement on NRC as Union Home Minister himself had said in Parliament that it would be implemented across India. “In fact, President (Kovind) had mentioned that NRC would be implemented across India during his address to the Parliament,” he said.

Polling on 81 Assembly seats in Jharkhand was held in five phases from November 30 to December 20.

The tenure of the current Assembly ends on January 5, 2020. This is the fourth Assembly election in Jharkhand since the state was carved out of Bihar in 2000.