On April 9, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar slammed the opposition parties for an attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his university degree. He questioned whether someone’s educational degree could be a political issue when the country was facing issues like unemployment, law and order issues and inflation.
Sharad Pawar told, “Should anyone’s educational degree be a political issue in the country when we are facing unemployment, law and order and inflation? Today, differences are being created among people in the name of religion and caste. Crops have been destroyed due to unseasonal rains in Maharashtra. Discussions are necessary on these issues,” the reporters.
On March 31, the Gujarat High Court set aside the Chief Information Commission (CIC) order and ruled that the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) need not furnish the degree and post-graduate degree certificates of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Furthermore, the Court imposed of Rs 25,000 on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who had sought details of the certificate of the Prime Minister’s degree.
Earlier, the NCP chief differed from the Opposition’s stance stating that there is “no need” of a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the Adani issue since the Supreme Court-appointed committee is examining the relevant issues and that it seems the Adani group was “targeted” in the Hindenburg Research report.
Sharad Pawar in an interview said “….Someone gave a statement, and it created uproar in the country. Such statements were given earlier too, which created ruckus. But the importance given to the issue this time was out of proportion. There was a need to think about who raised the issue (gave report). We had not heard the name who gave the statement. What is the background? When such issues are raised, they create uproar in the country, the cost is borne ….how it impacts the economy. We can’t ignore such things, and it seems (it) was targeted”.
Furthermore, NCP leader Ajit Pawar backed the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the electoral process in the country and said that he has “full trust” in it and it is not possible to manipulate it on April 8.
Ajit Pawar said that the people who lose the elections start blaming the EVMs and fail to accept the mandate of the people. Backing the EVM, the Maharashtra Leader of Opposition said that had the machines been faulty, there would not be governments of various opposition parties in numerous states of the country including West Bengal and Telangana.
“I have full trust in EVM personally. If EVMs were faulty, then we would not have governments of opposition parties in states like Chhattisgarh, WB, Rajasthan, Punjab, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. It is not possible to manipulate EVMs in our country. It is a big system altogether, lots of checks and balances are involved,” Ajit Pawar said while speaking to the media.
It is pertinent to note that Sharad Pawar and the NCP are not alone in voicing differences with the opposition’s and the Congress’s stance. Last month, Uddhav Thackeray, the head of the Shiv Sena (UBT), pleaded with Rahul Gandhi, asking him to not get ‘provoked’ and insult Veer Savarkar as their first priority was to ‘save democracy’.
It is to be noted that Thackeray’s party, UBT and Sharad Pawar’s NCP is in coalition with Congress in Maharashtra. “I want to openly tell Rahul Gandhi that Savarkar is a God-like figure for us and we will not tolerate his insult…. We are together in the fight to save democracy. But do not make statements or take steps that will create fissures (between the Sena (UBT) and the Congress)”, Uddhav Thackeray said.
