Sharad Pawar said that power is being misused and independent voices are being suppressed.
Kolhapur:
Senior politician Sharad Pawar has claimed that fundamental rights are under attack in the country and the government does not care about progressive ideology.
Addressing a function on Tuesday after unveiling the memorial of slain leftist leader Govind Pansare in Maharashtra’s Kolhapur city, he said a united stand should be taken against “regressive” forces.
Mr Pawar alleged, “Today power is being misused, independent voices are being suppressed, restrictions are being imposed on independent writing and news channels are being blocked. This means that people in power Is not concerned about attacks on fundamental rights.”
NCP chief Sharad Pawar said while “regressive” forces are growing in the country, the rulers are not at all concerned about progressive ideology.
He claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi comes to the Rajya Sabha only for 20 minutes when issues of common people are discussed and policy decisions are taken during the Parliament session.
“At the beginning of the session, (the Prime Minister) bowed at the door of Parliament. This is theatrics,” the former Union minister claimed.
He listed incidents like the arrest of former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren for alleging rising intolerance, the attack on organizers of the ‘Nirbhay Bano’ event in Pune and the “harassment” of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.
Senior journalist Nikhil Wagle’s car was recently attacked when he was on his way to the ‘Nirbhay Bano’ event in Pune.
Mr Pawar said, “Fake cases were imposed against a tribal Chief Minister in Jharkhand and he was arrested. Arvind Kejriwal is being harassed by putting his ministers in jail.”
He alleged that central agencies like ED are being misused and different criteria are being applied for those who take a different stand and those who are actually corrupt.
Pawar said the fight is not limited to elections but must be resolved to support those who have been oppressed and for this all like-minded progressive forces need to come together.
He said that fighting regressive tendencies would be a true tribute to Pansare.
CPI leader Govind Pansare was shot at by some unknown people in Kolhapur on 16 February 2015. He died four days later.
Mr Pawar also recalled the killings of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar and Kannada scholar MM Kalburgi.
He said, “The attackers think that they will destroy the progressive forces. But the ideological fight needs to be fought over the ideology. However, people with no ideological tendencies take the law into their own hands and commit such acts.” “
CPI leader D Raja recalled his association with late Pansare.
“The primary responsibility of all people at present is to save India. People should vote against communal forces and defeat the BJP,” he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
