Sharad Pawar reacts as PM Narendra Modi slams Congress for ‘Hindu-Muslim politics’

Sharad Pawar alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent stand could increase communal disharmony in the country.

Sharad Pawar of the NCP (SP) on Wednesday alleged that the stand taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently could increase communal disharmony in the country instead of bringing communities closer.

NCP-SCP Chief Sharad Pawar addresses a public meeting. (ANI file)

Speaking at a rally for his party's candidate Bhaskar Bhagare in Dindori (ST) Lok Sabha constituency of Maharashtra, Sharad Pawar said, "Narendra Modi is the first prime minister of the country who has taken positions that would increase the communal disharmony between various religions and castes. I heard his speech today in Nashik, and it was as per my expectations. He should have taken positions that will bring the communities and religious groups closer. Follow full coverage of Lok Sabha elections 2024

The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded sitting MP and Union minister of state for health Bharti Pawar from the Dindori (ST) seat.

Earlier on Wednesday, addressing a rally in the same constituency, PM Narendra Modi alleged that the Congress, during its rule at the Centre, had planned to allocate 15 per cent of the budget to Muslims.

Sharad Pawar also mentioned water scarcity in the region. "Nashik district has an issue of water availability anddistribution. Some of the available water is diverted towards Gujarat; what is the state leadership doing about it?" he asked.

'PM's statements increasingly bizarre': P Chidambaram

Meanwhile, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram also hit out at Modi saying the prime minister's statements are increasingly bizarre and show that “his speech writers have lost their balance”.

“Yesterday, he claimed that if he played the Hindu-Muslim divide, he would not be fit to be in public life. Today, he played his usual game of dividing Hindus and Muslims. The Hon'ble PM's accusation that Dr Manmohan Singh had drawn up a plan to spend 15 per cent of the Union Budget exclusively on Muslims is totally false,” P Chidambaram wrote on X (formally Twitter).

“His further allegation that Congress will present a Muslim budget and a Hindu budget is so outrageous that it can be only characterised as a hallucination. Article 112 of the Constitution of India contemplates only one Annual Financial statement, which is the Union Budget. How can there be two budgets? In the remaining days of the election campaign, it is my fervent hope that the Hon'ble PM will abandon the path of false accusations and outrageous claims. Not only the Indian people, the world is watching and analysing the Indian prime minister's statements, and they do not bring glory to India,” the former Union finance minister said.

‘Not doing Hindu-Muslim politics': PM Modi

PM Narendra Modi asserted he has never indulged in Hindu-Muslim politics, but was determined to expose the Congress “game plan of appeasement” and uncover the opposition bloc's designs to divide people based on religion. He accused the Congress of wanting to allocate 15 per cent of the central government budget for minorities and vowed not to allow splitting of budget or reservation in jobs and education based on religion.

Addressing two back-to-back poll rallies in Maharashtra, where the fifth and last phase of voting covering 13 Lok Sabha seats will take place on May 20, Modi hit out at the Shiv Sena (UBT), repeatedly calling it the “duplicate” Shiv Sena, and said the Uddhav Thackeray-led party has abjectly surrendered to the Congress and was silent on criticism of rituals at the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

Modi, the BJP's star campaigner, also held a roadshow in Mumbai in the evening. Speaking at a rally at Kalyan in Thane district, Modi said the Congress can never speak of development, but it can only create a rift between Hindus and Muslims.

"Development for the Congress is the development of those who vote for them. I expose this ecosystem, and I am blamed for (doing) Hindu-Muslim (politics)," news agency PTI quoted Modi as saying. The PM referred to a 2006 remark of then-prime minister Manmohan Singh to hit out at the Congress.

"The Congress openly said the minorities have the first right over the country's resources. (Then PM) Dr Manmohan Singh said this, and I was present at the meeting, and I opposed it. The Congress wanted a 15 per cent budget allocation to the minorities, and divide the budget into Hindu budget and Muslim budget," Modi alleged.

"Should the country be run like this? The Congress divided the country in the name of religion earlier, and now wants to do the same thing. If the INDI alliance comes to power, they would divide the country on religious lines....we have to keep the country together....is it good to divide Indians? he asked the gathering. Accusing the INDI alliance and "Congress' shehzade" (an apparent reference to MP Rahul Gandhi) of doing politics of appeasement, Modi claimed Karnataka had become a “laboratory” of giving OBC quota to Muslims.

(With inputs from PTI)