As Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to inaugurate a part of the Pune Metro on Sunday, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday said that the PM was welcome in Pune, but inaugurating the “half-completed project” at a time when Indian students have to be evacuated from Ukraine had to be taken more “seriously”.
“I agree that several important projects are being implemented in Pune but it’s equally important to evacuate Indian students from Ukraine. Will those who control the country take this seriously instead of inaugurating half-completed projects?” Mr. Pawar said. He added that the Centre was working on bringing students back from Ukraine and this was not the time to question who did what.
Mr. Modi will be inaugurating a 12 km stretch of the Pune Metro, out of a total of 32.2 km in the first phase of the project.
Mr. Pawar, addressing a press conference in Pune, also extended support to arrested NCP leader and State Minister Nawab Malik, saying there was no question of asking him to resign, and that it was “always convenient” for the Opposition to link a Muslim leader with Dawood Ibrahim, irrespective of facts of the case.
Mr. Pawar said that India had taken no side in the war in Ukraine, and that this was nothing new as it had been the case since the time Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister. “This is not the time to make comments about the Indian government’s position,” he said.
Mr. Pawar said the action Mr. Malik, who is under the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for his alleged role in a money laundering case linking to gangster Dawood Ibrahim was politically motivated, and that it was wrong to trouble Mr. Malik and his family members. “Nawab Malik has been in the State Assembly for the last 20 years and not a single allegation was made against him. Identifying a Muslim leader and linking him to Dawood is always convenient. Even I was accused of it a few years ago. These people [the BJP] always do it,” he said.
Mr. Pawar said that even Union Minister Narayan Rane had been arrested but his resignation was not taken up. “You cannot apply one rule to Rane and one rule to Malik. May be the PM will give an explanation on this tomorrow,” Mr. Pawar said in a jibe.
