Sharad Pawar belittles death threats to PM Modi

The Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday trivialised the assassination threats to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that the letter was being used to garner people's sympathy.

He said, "They say there was a threatening letter. I spoke to a retired police officer, who had worked for CID. He said there is no substance in the letter. The letter is being used to garner people's sympathy."

Claiming that the people arrested for inciting the Bhima -Koregaon violence were innocent, Pawar said, "When like-minded people came together to organise Elgar Parishad, they were called Naxals and arrested. Everyone knows who executed the Bhima-Koregaon violence, but those who have no link with it were arrested. This is a misuse of power."

For the uninitiated, the Pune police told a court that they were in possession of a letter, seized from the residence of one of the five people who has been arrested in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence, which talks about the assassination of Prime Minister Modi in Rajiv Gandhi-type incident.

"Modi-led Hindu fascism is bulldozing its way into the lives of indigenous Adivasis. In spite of big defeats like Bihar and West Bengal, Modi has successfully established BJP government in more than 15 states. If this pace continues, then it would mean immense trouble for the party... Comrade Kisan and few other senior comrades have proposed concrete steps to end Modi-raj," the letter read.

"We are thinking along the lines of another Rajiv Gandhi type incident," it added.

In the letter, it was also written that for Maoists, "defeating Hindu fascism has been our core agenda and a major concern for the party". The assassination plot's revelation has generated reactions across the political spectrum.