The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday expressed his admiration for the terror state Pakistan stating that the people of Pakistan are “very hospitable” while blaming the BJP government for spreading lies about Pakistan for its political gains.
According to the reports, addressing a special event for minorities at the NCP headquarters in Mumbai, the NCP chief Sharad Pawar said that he had experienced great hospitality in Pakistan when he had visited the country during his tenure as BCCI president.
He added that people in Pakistan are happy but the BJP-led government at the Centre has been spreading lies about Pakistan only for political gains.
“I have visited Pakistan and received hospitality there. Pakistanis believe that even if they can’t go to India to meet their relatives, they treat an Indian as their relatives. People here say Pakistanis are facing injustice & are unhappy but it is not true. Such statements are being said only for political gains without understanding the actual situation in Pak. Ruling class here is spreading false things for political benefits,” Pawar said.
During his address to the party workers, Pawar also talked about issues like mob lynching and Article 370. Pawar criticized the Centre for abrogating Article 370, said that the article existed to give some special powers to people of Jammu and Kashmir. Hitting out at the Narendra Modi led union government, the NCP chief said that the move will result in more terrorism in the Valley.
“By scrapping Article 370, the government wants to convey that they are opposing a minority state and in the process, this action of theirs will lead to more terrorism in the Valley,” Pawar noted.
Sharad Pawar also dared the government to revoke Article 371 in north-eastern states. “Why is the government not lifting Article 371? Why are they [BJP] doing it in Kashmir where minorities are in a majority. They are showing that they are making decisions against minorities,” said Pawar.
Meanwhile, Sharad Pawar is ready to embark on a state-wide tour from September 17 to begin his preparations for the assembly elections as his party NCP is facing an existential crisis after several senior party leaders quit the party to join the BJP and Shiv Sena ahead of the Maharashtra elections.
The 79-year-old NCP patriarch will visit ten districts of Solapur, Osmanabad, Beed, Latur, Hingoli, Parbhani, Jalna, Aurangabad, Ahmednagar and Satara in the first phase of the tour, the NCP said on Twitter.
During the first phase of his tour, Pawar will focus on the stronghold districts of Marathwada and western Maharashtra. NCP has witnessed a mass exodus in the recent past as senior leaders including Satara Udayanraje Bhosale and former state president Bhaskar Jadhav recently resigned from the party in order to join BJP and Shiv Sena respectively.
