'Have Muslims Faced Problems In Maharashtra?'

'We have given riot-free Maharashtra in our 18-month rule.'

IMAGE: Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar speaks to Rediff.com at his home in Baramati. Photograph: Hitesh Harisinghani/Rediff.com

In the first part of his interview, Nationalist Congress Party leader and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar spoke of how the Mahayuti comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiv Sena and his NCP plans to reverse the electoral rout in the Lok Sabha elections.

• Part 1: 'Adani wasn't there at meeting'

In the second and final part of his interview to Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com, Ajit Pawar says, "Any communal tension arises in the state our government always intervenes to stop it."

Don't you feel your party has not got a good share of seats as you are contesting only 59 seats vis a vis the BJP which is contesting 149 seats out of 288?

I decided on 59 seats and my party is okay with it.

Our Mahayuti alliance target is all 288 seats of Maharashtra.

What is the reason you chose the pink colour for your party?

This was decided by our parliamentary board and not my decision alone.

The NCP versus NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) contest is on in 38 seats. Now, speculation is that between the two factions the NCP has already won 38 seats and after elections both NCP factions will come together.

Let people speculate on what they want to speculate, it is their right to do so. I don't need to comment on such speculation.

Our target is 175-plus seats out of 288 for the Mahayuti for which we are all working together to ensure success.

Some 17 big projects that were to come to Maharashtra were sent to Gujarat resulting in loss of employment in the state. This is one of the narratives that is being portrayed by the Opposition parties.

Again, this is a fake narrative. No project is going out of Maharashtra.

Take, for example, the Vadhavan port investment in Maharashtra. It is a Rs 75,000 crore (Rs 750 billion) investment project that has come to the state. We got such huge projects approved.

It was only recently that Amitbhai (Home Minister Amit A Shah) told me that Maharashtra got Rs 10 lakh crore worth of investment in Maharashtra during our rule.

There are national highways being built; work is going on in the railways... Vande Bharat trains, bullet trains, airports and seaports. The central government has invested Rs 1 lakh crore in the state.

Is that the narrative on the ground too?

Yes, we are telling people about Jindal and Kirloskar projects investing in Maharashtra. Even in Gadchiroli (the Naxalite infested district) projects are being started.

General Motors had shut down its operation in Talegaon; now Hyundai has taken over that project.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is called gaddar by Shiv Sainiks from the Uddhav Thackeray faction. But in your case there is decency maintained that even though you parted ways with your uncle Sharad Pawar.
No one makes any allegation against you, and you have friendly ties with him at family gatherings.
How do you maintain such cordial relations by keeping politics out?

We do what we do (in life). This is the internal matter of our family and I don't think I owe any explanation to anyone on this matter.

Sharad Pawar says that ideologically he cannot go with the BJP so after you joined them what does secularism mean to you? The Muslim community fears the worst if the Mahayuti comes back to power.

We have been in government for the last 18 months, koi takleef hui (did Muslims face any problem)? The answer is no.

IMAGE: Ajit Pawar addresses a public meeting for the state assembly elections at Medad village in Pune, November 13, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo

The maximum help the Muslim community got was in our government in the last 18 months. We have allocated Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) to the minority department for development.

Another Rs 1,000 crore was given to the Maulana Azad Corporation. The loan guarantee that the government used to take for the Maulana Azad Corporation was raised from Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million) to Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion).

We raised madrasa (teachers) salary from Rs 6,000 to Rs 16,000 per month. The ones earning Rs 8,000 got Rs 18,000.

For education a minority student used to get Rs 500,000, this was raised to Rs 20 lakhs (Rs 2 million). The brilliant scholar minority students numbering 75 every year are getting Rs 40 lakhs (Rs 4 million) per year from the Maharashtra government.

In the Laadki Bahin scheme there are 2.30 crore (23 million) women out of which many are from the minority community too.

We never discriminated against minorities in the welfare scheme as we work on the principles of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Mahatma Phule, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and Shahu Maharaj.

I said these words in front of Prime Minister Modi in my speech.

Is it not contradictory to what the BJP's 'Batenge toh katenge' politics which is divisive and communal?

Watch the answer in the video below

Video: Hitesh Harisinghani/Rediff.com

Ek minute. Aisa kuch hone diya kya (did we allow anything to happen)?

Any communal tension arises in the state our government always intervenes to stop it. It is not me alone, but even Eknath Shindeji ensures that no communal trouble takes place in the state and so do my other colleagues.

You mean you have had a riot-free Maharashtra in the last 18 months.

Yes, we have given a riot-free Maharashtra in our 18-month rule.

There was an incident in Vishalgarh. I reached the spot immediately the next day. From the government side we gave Rs 50,000 to the victims. Our party also contributed Rs 50,000 to the victims. And whatever losses the riot victims suffered, we asked for a panchnama and also gave crores of rupees in cheques to compensate.

We proved in our rule that law and order must be good in Maharashtra, and we have done it.

What does the word 'secular' mean to Ajit Pawar?

Watch the video below to know more!

Video: Hitesh Harisinghani/Rediff.com

For me secular means people of all castes (and religions) in the state must live in brotherhood and amity.

They must respect everybody's sentiments and not develop 'the other' kind of feeling for any person belonging to any caste or creed.

Nobody must try to disturb law and order, and if you follow the rules then you are a secular person by definition.