Sharad Pawar praises Rahul Gandhi, asks PM Modi not to target political rivals from 'foreign soil'

Rahul Gandhi's gesture of hugging Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha yesterday has sent a good message, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar today said, while advising the prime minister not to target political rivals from "foreign soil".

"Yesterday, a young man hugged an elderly person. One needs to understand that this has sent out a good message," Pawar said, speaking at an NCP conclave here.

Gandhi, after tearing into the NDA government's policies and programmes during the discussion on no-trust motion in Parliament yesterday, which was eventually defeated, walked across the aisle to where Modi was sitting and hugged him.

Pawar also praised Gandhi's statement that the prime minister might hate him, but he does not reciprocate in the same way. "This is a good message, that despite political differences, everybody should unite for the country's progress," Pawar said.

Modi should understand the difference between election rallies and government functions, he said.

"When you go abroad, you are the prime minister and our representative. But you raise domestic political issues and target your political adversaries on foreign soil, constantly referring to a 'family'," said the former Union minister, Pawar said he himself may have had differences with the Congress leadership in the past, but he always recognises the role party leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Jawaharlal Nehru and other played in the freedom struggle.

"Indira Gandhi worked for uplift of poor and raised the country's prestige on the global platform," Pawar, a former Congressman who left the party in the 1999, said.

"It was wrong (for Modi) to target Indira Gandhi and Congress on foreign soil," he said.

Noting that rupee was weakening, unemployment was rising and the economy was in trouble, Pawar said programs and policies should be criticised but there should not be personal attacks.

Referring to National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah's speech in the Lok Sabha yesterday, Pawar said it is a matter of pride for the country that Abdullah said he would live and die as an Indian.
He also targeted the BJP over cow vigilantism. "I am not promoting non-vegetarianism, but it is not correct to target people for their eating habits," Pawar said.

Referring to a lynching case in Maharashtra's Dhule where five members of a nomadic tribe were killed, Pawar said the current rulers want the poor and backward sections of the society "terrorised".

When a Union minister felicitates the accused in a lynching case, what message the government is trying to send, he asked, in apparent reference to the controversy involving Jayant Sinha.
Pawar also questioned the incarceration of NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal, who was granted bail by the high court two years after the Enforcement Directorate arrested him in a money laundering case.
Bhujbal was present on the dais.

"Why was Chhagan Bhujbal treated in this manner?" Pawar asked. "They (the government) wanted to keep Bhujbal away from people. But this did not happen. We did not approve of this politics of vendetta. That is why we are saying `Save the Constitution'," he said.

"We are asked who is the alternative (to Modi). Alternatives do not emerge overnight. We will unite all like-minded parties and then face elections," he said.

In Maharashtra, the Congress and the NCP have almost equal number of legislators, he noted. "This means we are equal partners," he said, hinting that NCP may ask for 50-50 seat-sharing formula with the Congress.