Ajit Pawar apologises again on Facebook for his 'urinate in dam' remark; appeals to Opposition not to rake-up old issues

With the Maharashtra state assembly elections now just three weeks away, senior NCP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar took to social media website Facebook to once again apologise for his remarks about urinating in a dam that he had made during his Indapur rally in April, and also appealed Opposition parties and the media not to rake up the old issues in the post.

In a write-up posted on Facebook, Ajit Pawar wrote, “ There are some days which gives you happiness and immense sorrow and the same thing happened with me. April 6, 2014 was the worst day of my life. However, I myself was responsible for that.”

At Pune's Indapur rally on April 6, 2014, Pawar had said, "There is this person from Solapur, sitting on hunger strike for 55 days demanding water be released from the dam. But where are we going to get water from? Should we urinate? And when we are not getting water to drink even urine is not coming easily." Unfortunately for him, he had made this remarks when many parts of Maharashtra were reeling under severe drought.

Stating that during the drought he and others had worked day in and day out to resolve the issue, Pawar says, “Since drought issue was on my mind for 24 hours, the wrong words came from my mouth. There is no doubt that being the deputy chief minister I should not have used such words.  And as soon as I realised, I even sent out a written apologising letter.”

Taking a dig at the opposition, he said, “While we were spending hours to resolve drought problem, rather than helping us solve the issue, opposition was busy in criticising. They were racking up the issue of irrigation, Isn't it unfortunate? Everyone was playing politics.” 

Pawar reiterated that there is no intention of gaining any sympathy by mentioning the above issue, and as the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, he had done whatever he could.

Appealing to the opposition, Pawar further said, “Maharashtra assembly elections are few days away. Therefore, please don't hit below the belt and don't bring up issues that ended a year ago. Even if we all are politicians, first we are human beings. There is some relation beyond politics.”

Stating that many big people have made mistakes and have accepted it, Pawar says, “The who made mistakes were forgiven by the one who were loving as well as those who were angry with them. If you consistently accuse someone over an issue, it not only affect the person, but also his family. Please remember, I am a worker one among you.”