Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil: MVA govt cares for Marathas & their issues

Home Minister of Maharashtra Dilip Walse Patil has added his voice to that of his party leader, Nationalist Congress President Sharad Pawar and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to accuse the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of using central agencies to destabilise the state government.

In fact, he has gone one step ahead of both to categorically state that the destabilisation efforts were directly at the behest of Narendra Modi and his silence at the BJP’s unsustainable shenanigans in Maharashtra spoke volumes about his complicity in these acts.

“But try as hard they might, they will not succeed,” he added confidently. In an exclusive interview to National Herald, Walse-Patil also alleged that the BJP has deliberately set out to trap opposition leaders at the behest of the party’s top leadership at the Centre. To serve this end, Walse-Patil was categorical in stating central agencies like the ED, CBI, NIA which had never before been used to tarnish rival politicians before are now digging up old cases settled 25-30 years ago or closed after investigation.

Cases against NCP leader Nawab Malik, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and his wife Rashmi Thackeray have been dug up in a similar manner. He questioned why no action was taken on these issues when BJP was in power in Maharashtra and accused the BJP of misusing the system.

Going full blast at the BJP, Walse Patil said that law and order is very stable in the state, but BJP was attempting to destabilise the situation by creating doubts about the government’s longevity and emphasised the government will complete its full term and there will be no President’s Rule in the state.

‘By hook or by crook’ seems to be the BJP’s motto for destabilising the government and while they have dug up an old, unsubstantiated case against Nawab Malik, they keep repeating the charges ad nauseum hoping some of it will stick.

While the BJP did nothing to make sure Dhangars (goatherd community), OBCs and Marathas got reservations during their tenure in government, today they are raising that bogey merely as another bid to shake up the Maha Vikas Aghadi government when it is clear they simply do not care for these communities, he said.

Even on the issue of Maratha reservations, Walse-Patil faulted the BJP for trying to force the MVA government to accomplish tasks that the BJP itself could not achieve while in power both at the Centre and in the state.

“Their MP goes on fast, gets unwell, then I am the one who has to assure Sambhaji Rajethat something will be done for Maratha reservations.”

There were many agitations in Maharashtra for Maratha reservation during the BJP regime but nothing was done for them. But the MVA government held an emergency meeting of ministers on issues related to the Maratha community last Monday in which it was decided to set up a dedicated commission. The matter of reservation is in the Supreme Court and will be resolved eventually, he added.

(Translated from Marathi by Abhir More)

(This was first published in National Herald on Sunday)