Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Modi steering India to dictatorship, says Sharad Pawar at Nippani rally

In a bid to silence dissenting voices, the Modi regime has been sending leaders in Opposition ranks to jail, Pawar said.

Nationalist Congress Party (Pawar faction) supremo Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said Narendra Modi, if voted back to power for a third term, will steer the country towards dictatorship.

Addressing a Lok Sabha election rally in favour of Chikkodi Congress nominee Priyanka Jarkiholi, Pawar said, “After Independence, Nehru, Indira and Rajiv kept the flame of democracy alive. But the country, under the Narendra Modi-led BJP government, is heading towards dictatorship.”

Pawar’s NCP faction is a partner in the I.N.D.I.A. alliance.

"In 2014, the Modi government came to power with lofty ambitions. He didn’t fulfil even half of the poll promises back then. In 2014, petrol sold at Rs 71 per litre, now it has gone past Rs 100. Likewise, the price of an LPG cylinder has increased three-fold in the last 10 years."

"The Modi government has failed to address the unemployment problem. Farmers are not getting fair price for their produce, leaving them at the brink of suicide. The PM has made life miserable for the common man," Pawar charged.

Continuing his tirade against Modi, Pawar said, “The Modi government has been using the government agencies to bring down the state governments. In a bid to silence dissenting voices, the Modi regime has been sending leaders in Opposition ranks to jail,” he said, citing examples of Delhi CM Aravind Kejriwal and Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren.

Praising the guarantee schemes implemented by the Congress governments of Karnataka and Telangana, the veteran leader said, “The Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in Karnataka and Revanth Reddy’s dispensation in neighbouring Telangana have implemented the poll promises effectively. The guarantee schemes are a model for the whole country. So, there is a need for the I.N.D.I.A. alliance to come to power.”