Mumbai/New Delhi, 14 January 2025: Sharad Pawar, former Union minister and chief of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP-SP), on Tuesday criticized Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks alleging that the BJP’s 2019 Maharashtra assembly victory marked an end to “instability and betrayal” introduced by Pawar in 1978.
Responding to Shah’s statement made at a BJP convention in Shirdi, Pawar remarked, “I was the chief minister in 1978. I am not even aware of his whereabouts at that time.” He pointed out that during his tenure as chief minister, members of the Jan Sangh, including Uttamrao Patil, served in his cabinet.
Pawar called for maintaining the “decorum of the home minister’s office,” voicing concerns over the deteriorating quality of communication among political leaders. “There used to be ‘susanvad’ (good communication) between leaders earlier, but that is missing now,” he noted.
Shah’s remarks directly referenced Pawar’s departure from the Vasantdada Patil government in 1978, when Pawar led 40 MLAs to form a new government, subsequently becoming chief minister. Addressing the convention, Shah stated, “The BJP’s victory in Maharashtra buried the politics of instability and backstabbing, started by Sharad Pawar, 20 feet deep into the ground.”
Pawar, however, highlighted instances of bipartisan collaboration in the past, recalling how then-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee appointed him vice-chairman of the Disaster Management Authority following the Bhuj earthquake, despite their political differences.
“This country has seen many excellent home ministers, but none of them faced being externed from their own state,” Pawar remarked, alluding to Shah’s 2010 externment from Gujarat in connection with the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case. Shah was acquitted of all charges in 2014.
The remarks by both leaders reflect deepening political rifts in Maharashtra, with history and political conduct becoming focal points of contention.
