NCP chief Sharad Pawar has claimed that the Centre’s ‘fear of getting exposed’ could be the reason for its hasty decision to transfer the Bhima Koregaon to the NIA. While speaking to reporters, Pawar said:
“I think the government fears it may be exposed. So, the decision has been taken (to transfer the case to NIA).”
The NCP supremo also stated that those who speak out against social injustice cannot be branded as ‘Urban Naxals’.
This comes a day after the Maharashtra home minister condemned the central government’s decision to transfer the case without any consent from the state government.
The Sena-NCP-Congress government had been reviewing the cases filed against the activists who were arrested in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence that took place in January 2018 with the Pune police. The NCP had also sought an SIT be set up to probe into the Pune police’s investigation into the case.
On Friday, however, the Centre handed over the case to the NIA.
The NCP has also questioned why it took the NIA two years to determine if the case came under its jurisdiction, reported NDTV.
The Centre’s decision has come under fire even from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who stated that anyone who opposed PM Modi and Amit Shah’s agenda is branded as an ‘Urban Naxal’.
“Anyone who opposes the MOSH agenda of hate is an ‘Urban Naxal’. Bhima-Koregaon is a symbol of resistance that the Government’s NIA stooges can never erase.”Congress leader Rahul Gandhi
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)