Sharad Pawar takes on Narendra Modi for personal attacks on Nehru-Gandhi family

Raj Thackeray and Sharad Pawar at the Pune event. (Photo by Arul Horizon)

In a clear reference to recent comments made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament on the Nehru-Gandhi family, NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said these kinds of personal attacks do not go along well with a person holding high office. “Nowadays, there are personal attacks in politics. Those doing (this) do not even keep in mind the position they are holding. The way personal attacks were made on the Nehru-Gandhi family (recently in Parliament) does not fit into my ethical books,” Pawar said in response to a question by MNS chief Raj Thackeray.

The two were sharing the stage at an event organised by Jagtik Marathi Academy and BVG group, during which Thackeray conducted an “open interview” of Pawar. Pawar said it was wrong to say that there had been no contribution of Jawaharlal Nehru in nation-building. He said there have always been confrontations in politics but “certain boundaries were never crossed”. He said he always followed the values inculcated in him by former Maharashtra chief minister Yashwantrao Chavan.

Pawar said former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee also believed in respecting each and every person but lamented that these values did not exist among politicians any longer. While making these comments, Pawar avoided taking Modi’s name. But when Thackeray said everyone understood he was talking about Modi, Pawar laughed and did not contest.

To another question by Thackeray whether Modi was promoting Gujarat even after becoming the Prime Minister, Pawar said he indeed felt Modi was doing so. “In fact, it is a topic of discussion in Parliament corridors. Whenever a head of any country comes to India, then (people know) two things would surely happen – a hug (with Modi) and a visit to Ahmedabad,” Pawar said.

The Maratha leader said it was easy to rule a state like Gujarat but governance of the entire country was a very different proposition. “The situation of the country is different as one has to think of all the regions of the country unlike the limited area of the state,” he said.

Pawar said there also seemed to be a lack of team effort in the running of Modi government, as ministers did not seem to be free to take decisions on their own and had to take the consent of the Prime Minister for every decision.

He also responded to a question on whether there was a growing closeness between him and Modi. The two had attended a function at Manjri near Pune in November 2016 and praised each other. At that event, Modi had said he had no hesitation in accepting that Pawar had held his hand and taught him to walk during his early days as Gujarat chief minister.

But Pawar on Wednesday said that statement was not entirely accurate. “It was a wrong statement… that he had entered politics holding my hand. I developed good relations with him when Modi was Gujarat chief minister and he sought my help for getting the nod of the union (UPA) government on proposals of Gujarat. I never guided him in politics,” Pawar said.

The three-time chief minister of Maharashtra said he continued to believe in the ideology of the Congress although he was heading a separate political party now. “I never left the Nehru-Gandhi ideology even if I quit the party. I left the party due to differences with the leadership. The last time I left the Congress and formed NCP was because I didn’t like the way the party chief met the President to stake claim to form government after the Vajpayee government resigned. I was the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and, as per the practise, the Leader of Opposition should meet the President to claim to form government on behalf of party. But I was ignored,” Pawar said.

Pawar said it was true that Congress has weakened in the country but also true that it was the only national party with the ability to take on the BJP. “The Congress has given charge in young hands of Rahul Gandhi. I have observed that he has been working hard and ready to learn and understand the problems of citizens,” the NCP chief said.

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