A day after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA Sangram Jagtap urged Hindus to make Diwali purchases exclusively from Hindu shopkeepers and traders, party chief and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar termed the remark “completely wrong” and said that it was “not acceptable” to the party. “The statement is completely wrong. We will send him a show-cause notice,” Pawar said in Pune on Saturday. “When the party’s policies and objectives have been decided, no MLA or MP should stray away from them. If anyone makes such statements, those are not acceptable to the party,” he added. Sangram, the NCP MLA from Ahilyanagar, is the son of the late Arun Jagtap. “Till Arunkaka Jagtap was alive, everything was fine in Ahilyanagar. But some people have given us an additional burden. Some people should remember that when the patronage of their father is no more available, they need to behave and speak responsibly. This is the land of Shiv-Shahu-Phule-Ambedkar. It believes in taking everyone along and ensuring there is progress,” Pawar said. Pawar added that he had met Sangram at an event recently. “He told me that he will correct his ways. But that does not seem to be happening. His stand and his ideology are not acceptable to our party,” he added. On Thursday, at a rally in Karmala taluka of Solapur district, Sangram said, “On the occasion of Diwali, every citizen should make purchases only from shops belonging to Hindus. Only Hindus should make a profit out of the sale.” He was speaking a day after AIMIM’s rally in Ahilyanagar, addressed by party chief Asaduddin Owaisi and state party chief Imtiaz Jaleel. Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Gopal Tiwari said Sangram’s statement was highly condemnable. “It is aimed at disturbing the peace and communal harmony in Maharashtra. The (Devendra) Fadnavis government should file a police complaint against him if it really wants Maharashtra to stay peaceful,” Tiwari said. “It is also unfortunate that Ajit Pawar, who often swears that his party follows the ideology of Shahu-Phule Ambedkar, is now talking of sending a mere show-cause notice. The statement made by Sangram Jagtap is inflammatory and can lead to a dangerous situation. Ajit Pawar should immediately take action against Sangram Jagtap since the statement is in the public domain and his videos are going viral. Why does he need to send a show-cause notice? Is he trying to buy time? The MLA should be immediately sacked by NCP if the party truly believes in the ideology of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, who never discriminated between people from different religious backgrounds during his rule,” he added.
