Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on March 29 accused the RSS of involvement in the 2006 Nanded blast. “The RSS was involved in Nanded blast… These forces were also involved in Purna, Parbhani and Ajmer blasts,” he said. He added that after the arrest of the Malegaon blasts accused, there were no blasts in the country, which showed who was involved.
“After every blast, Muslims used to be viewed with suspicion. But the truth is now before the country after the Malegaon blast,” he said, addressing a joint Congress-NCP campaign rally.
Pawar said if the BJP, RSS and VHP came to power, they “would take the country 50 years back,” and would rip apart social unity and make the common man face violence. He also targeted the BJP leadership for supporting Varun Gandhi for his alleged anti-minority statements. Without naming Varun, Pawar referred to the anti-minority comments made by “a member of the Gandhi family” and attacked Advani and Rajnath Singh for supporting Varun. Pawar also attacked Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for his statement that he wanted to convert Maharashtra into Gujarat. Pawar said they knew the “Gujarat of Mahatma Gandhi and not that of Narendra Modi”. He referred to the arrest of Gujarat Minister Maya Kodnani for her alleged role in the 2002 Naroda Patiya riots, and said they did not want the replication of such a Gujarat in Maharashtra.
The situation in Gujarat had come about due to the state passing into the “hands of the wrong people” and it was necessary to stop such people from coming to power in the country.