Government has polarized India politically, says Supriya Sule

NCP leader Supriya Sule on Wednesday accused the BJP-led government of "polarizing" the country and trying to drive attention away from issues facing the economy.

Participating in the debate on the motion of thanks to the President's Address in Lok Sabha, she said the moves of the government were also impacting India's image abroad.

"The government is hiding an agenda of the crisis that our economy is in and is trying to drive that entire attention on to something which is polarizing India, which is costing us dearly because it is taking a huge beating internationally. It is going to hurt investments, it is going to hurt the nation," she said.

Sule said the government's vision of New India appeared to be flawed.

"India today, for the first time, since I remember, is persecuted and completely polarized. You have not just polarised it politically, but this whole vision in India today, which is some new India, which I have never experienced and which is on caste and creed, has almost reached our homes," she said.

Urging the government to introspect, she said: "This is not about whether you sit on this side or that side".

The NCP leader said the government talks about World Bank's Ease of Doing Business rankings but there are several other rankings including the democracy index in which India has slipped.

She called for steps for the export of onions. "We lost an opportunity six months ago and this is another golden opportunity for your government to help the farmer," she said.

Referring to the move to transfer the Bhima Koregaon to NIA, Sule said the then chief minister had written that they were satisfied with the progress in investigations in the case and there should not be any NIA intervention.

"What has happened in the last three months? On one side, you are talking about cooperative federalism. Then, what has happened in Bhima Koregaon case?" she asked.

She also referred to phone tapping allegations in Maharashtra and said an inquiry has just started.

( With inputs from ANI )