Nehru-Gandhi family’s 3 gen sacrifice: Pawar

PUNE: NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for dubbing Rahul Gandhi a ‘shehzada’ (prince) and said three generations of the Nehru-Gandhi family had sacrificed themselves for the country.

Addressing an election meeting in Junnar for his party candidate, Pawar said Rahul Gandhi should rather be praised for hitting the ground to understand the plight of the common people braving weather conditions.

The prime minister should know that three generations of Rahul Gandhi whom he called a shehzada had served this country and sacrificed their lives, he said.

“Nehru was jailed for 13 years before Independence. Later, he worked towards taking the country forward in all fields and ensured a rule of democracy. Rahul Gandhi’s grandmother, Indira Gandhi, worked tirelessly to eradicate poverty. She was assassinated.

Later Rahul’s father Rajiv Gandhi adopted modernisation and worked for it. He was killed in a bomb blast,” said Pawar. He added that the three generations of Rahul Gandhi made a big sacrifice for the country but PM Modi dubs Rahul a ‘shehzada’.

“To understand the hardship of people, this ‘shehzada’ took out a journey on foot (Bharat Jodo Yatra) from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, braving weather conditions. Instead of appreciating him, he is mocked as shehzada by the country’s prime minister,” Pawar added.

The leader recalled PM Modi’s 2016 statement about having come into politics holding the former’s finger, and said “Modi is angry with me of late”.

“Modi had delivered a speech in Pune stating that he (Modi) had come into politics by holding the finger of Pawar saheb. Yesterday, he said a ‘restless’ soul in Maharashtra has been causing restlessness across the state for the last 45 years, Pawar said delivering the talk at the election rally.