NCP chief stays away as Mahayuti leaders visit Hedgewar Smruti Mandir
Nagpur: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and NCP chief Ajit Pawar continued to maintain distance from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh as he skipped the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance parties’ annual winter visit to RSS founder Dr KB Hedgewar’s Smriti Mandir in Nagpur on Sunday. On the contrary, another DCM and Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde visited the memorial along with his MLAs and also paid tribute to the RSS head.
The winter session of the Maharashtra legislature got over in Nagpur on Sunday. In the morning, Chief Minister Fadnavis and Shinde paid tributes at the memorial of RSS founder KB Hedgewar and the second Sanghchalak, M S Golwalkar, at the Smruti Mandir in Reshim Bagh. However, NCP legislators, including Ajit Pawar, who are also part of the ruling Mahayuti coalition in the state, were conspicuous by their absence.
This is the third time in succession Pawar has stayed away from the visit to the Hedgewar memorial since joining hands with the BJP in 2023. Pawar has always maintained that secularism is their ideology and they will not deviate from it despite the alliance with the BJP.
NCP spokesperson Anand Paranjape defended the move saying it was not the first time that Pawar skipped a visit to the RSS founder’s memorial and their focus was on development of the state.
“The NCP’s ideology is based on the progressive thoughts of (social reformers) Shahu Maharaj, Jyotiba Phule and Dr BR Ambedkar. We stick to our principles and our focus is development of the state,” Paranjape asserted.
However, last year, MLAs Raju Karemore and Rajkumar Badole from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, which has 41 legislators in the Vidhan Sabha, had visited the Smruti Mandir.
Shinde, during his visit to the RSS headquarters, praised the organisation’s century-long contribution to nation-building. Calling current RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat ‘a true patriot,’ he stated that the guidance of Bhagwat constantly inspires the activists, providing strength for social and national service.
However, opposition parties said that Pawar’s absence indicated that there was a rift within Maharashtra's ruling alliance.
Sachin Sawant, spokesperson of the Congress, claimed the NCP has been hearing the ‘ideology’ of RSS in cabinet meetings and unless Pawar’s party agrees with it, they wouldn’t be in power. In a post on X, Sawant criticised the RSS, alleging that it promotes ideologies that undermine democracy and the Constitution.
