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Pawar: why no action against Hindutva groups?

Sharad Pawar

Alibaug, (Maharashtra): Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Sunday suggested that the Hindutva groups like the Bajrang Dal could also be labelled as terrorists going by their actions and wondered why the Muslims alone were being targeted as terrorists.

Lashing out at the ’double standards’ of the police, Mr. Pawar said “if Muslims are being targeted as terrorists, why no action is taken against the Hindu groups like Sanatan Prabhat and Bajrang Dal.”

“The culprits should be booked under the law whether they are Hindus or Muslims,” Mr. Pawar told journalists at this coastal resort at the end of a two-day meeting of his party.

“The involvement of the Sanatan Prabhat and the Bajrang Dal in the riots at Thane and also blasts came to light recently but it was not highlighted,” he said.

He asked the Home department to intervene and have a different attitude to handle the issue of terrorism. “After all the unity of the nation is important otherwise the society will have to pay the ultimate price for it.”

“Those who indulged in illegal activities and creating enmity between the communities whether they belonged to the Bajrang Dal or the SIMI... I am not taking any name but same approach should be taken for everybody,” he said.

“I have read the literature of the Sanatan organisation written by founder Anil Pachpute and it was horrible,” he said.

Mr. Pawar also warned that isolating a particular strata of society by labelling as terrorist was not a good sign.

Noting that the nuclear energy was the only alternative before India, Mr. Pawar said it was impossible for the country to scrap the India-U.S. nuclear deal now.

“Good relations with the U.S. have to be maintained,” he said, adding “this is a deal between India and U.S. and not between Manmohan Singh and George Bush.”

On rising inflation, Mr. Pawar said global hike in petrol prices was responsible for it. “We should not worry about it as it’s bound to come down,” he added.

In an apparent reference to the Singur and SEZ rows, he said “land acquisitions shouldn’t spell doom for farmers.”

Bemoaning the lack of adequate water and electricity in Maharashtra, Mr.Pawar said the government should divert development projects in regions like Vidarbha and Marathwada, instead of setting them around Pune.

“No more projects near Pune. They should be diverted to other regions,” he said. .

Maratha quota issue

Mr. Pawar said that he would meet Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on the issue of reservations for Maratha community. “This matter needs to be dealt sympathetically,” he said.

On the agriculture front, Mr. Pawar said this year’s production was the best since independence.

Also, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations has awarded a gold medal to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the agricultural revival in the country, he added. — PTI

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