Balakot Air Strike Took Place in Kashmir, Not in Pak: Sharad Pawar

Sharad Pawar also said that cultural communalism had helped the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party politically.

File image of NCP chief Sharad Pawar.

(Photo: PTI)

NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday, 9 June, slammed Narendra Modi government's assertion of "hitting the enemy in his home," claiming that such actions against terrorists actually took place in Kashmir and not in Pakistan.

Stating that cultural communalism had helped the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politically, he warned that one community standing against another was dangerous for the country’s social harmony.

During his Lok Sabha poll campaign, Prime Minister Modi had said "ghar mein ghus ghus ke marenge (we will enter the terrorists' homes and eliminate them).”

He had made these remarks after the Indian Air Force targeted a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in Pakistan's Balakot following a suicide bomber belonging to the proscribed organisation ramming his explosives-laden vehicle into a CRPF convoy in Pulwama, killing 40 men.

During a live chat with people on Facebook from his office, Pawar noted that the public used to like when Modi, during his poll campaign and rallies, said his government would enter the houses of enemies and kill them.

However, the Maratha leader was quick to claim that “the attacks that had taken place did not happen in Pakistan, but in Kashmir. And Kashmir is a part of India.”

"Hence, whatever steps the Modi government took to put a check on the activities in Kashmir, that does not mean you entered Pakistan," he said.

"People do not have information about the Line of Control (LoC) and the situation there. So, they felt some action had been taken against Pakistan," the former Union minister said.

He also alleged that the systematic efforts were made to create an aversion towards a particular community.

“Cultural communalism received an indirect boost in the country, which politically benefitted the BJP,” Pawar added.

"It is dangerous for the social harmony of the country that one community stands against another. Muslims are the second-largest community in the country after Hindus," the former Maharashtra chief minister added.