Anybody can create history but nobody can destroy or eliminate the glorious history of a nation,” he said. Asked if Modi and BJP, having toned down their Hindutva rhetoric and talking of inclusive politics, would now be able to take all sections along, Pawar replied in the negative, saying once in power they will go back to contentious issues of Ram temple, uniform civil code and abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution.
“100 per cent. They have said about these things in their manifesto, may be not very prominently but at least something is there. Tomorrow, they can say, yes, we had told the people about our thinking,” he said.
On whether he expected Modi, regarded an able administrator and a decisive leader, to end the policy paralysis alleged to be plaguing the government at the Centre, Pawar said the BJP leader's personalised style and data on development raised doubts about his being a competent administrator.
“Data published by RBI shows performance in growth under every chief minister of Gujarat. When Congress CMs Madhavsinh Solanki and Chimanbhai Patel were there, the growth rate was between 16 and 17.5 per cent. After Modi took over, it came down to 9 per cent.
What does it show? If he is such an efficient administrator, why growth rate has come down?” “In the last three years, Maharashtra received foreign investments of Rs 1.42 lakh crore but total investment in Gujarat, in spite of Vibrant Gujarat Summits, was not even 20 per cent of what Maharashtra got. That itself shows what kind of an administrator he is,” Pawar said.
