Maratha Stalwart And NCP Supremo Sharad Pawar Slams CAA, NRC, Says Both Aimed To Divert Attention From Real Issues

Picture : Twitter / ANI

Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar has slammed the National Democratic Alliance government , saying the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens were “ploys to divert” attention from serious issues plaguing the country.

The wily Pawar had played the key role in installing the new government in Maharashtra led by Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray which includes his own party the NCP along with the Congress.

“CAA and NRC are ploys to divert people’s attention from serious issues that the country is facing,” he told reporters in Pune.

“Not just minorities, but those who care for the country’s unity and progress are opposing CAA and NRC. The new citizenship law will disturb and hurt religious and social unity and harmony of the country,” he said.

He questioned why only migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan will be given citizenship under the amended law and not the Sri Lankan Tamils.

Eight states, including Bihar, ruled by an NDA ally, have refused to implement the law and Maharashtra should also take a similar stand, Pawar said in response to a query.

“The CAA may be a central act, but the implementation will be done by the state agencies. But do the states have resources and machinery to do so,” he asked.

The former Union Defence ( Under Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao Government) and Agriculture  minister ( UPA- 1, UPA – 2 Under Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh)  also sought an SIT probe, headed by a retired judge, into Pune police’s action against activists in the Elgar Parishad case.