Row after NCP-SP leader's wife compares Bin Laden to Kalam
Ruta Awhad, the wife of Nationalist Congress Party (SP) leader Jitendra Awhad, has sparked a political row after comparing former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam with terrorist Osama Bin Laden. During a public event in Thane on Thursday, Awhad said Bin Laden wasn't born a terrorist but societal factors pushed him toward it. Talking about the importance of education, she encouraged students to read Bin Laden's biography to understand why he became a terrorist. Her comments have since gone viral.
BJP attacks opposition
The comments quickly sparked backlash from the BJP, with party spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala using X (formerly Twitter) to criticize Awhad and Sharad Pawar's NCP-SP. "NCP Sharad Pawar faction leader Jeetendra Ahwad's wife defends and eulogizes Osama bin Laden, compares him to APJ Abdul Kalam! Says society made him a terrorist! Jeetendra Awhad had defended Ishrat Jahan (LeT terrorist). INDI-Congress-NCP Pawar-SP alliance leaders have routinely defended Yakub, Afzal, SIMI, Kasab & others too," Poonawala wrote.
Watch the viral video and Poonawalla's reation here
'Do Pawar, Gandhi endorse the view...': BJP Spokesperson
BJP Spokesperson Pradip Bhandari also joined the criticism, accusing the opposition INDIA bloc—of which NCP-SP is a member—of resorting to appeasement politics ahead of assembly elections in Maharashtra. "Does Sharad Pawar and Rahul Gandhi endorse the view that Osama Bin Laden was a 'Happen to be terrorist' and children should read biography of 'Terrorists'? (sic)" Bhandari said in an X post. The NCP-SP is yet to make a statement on the controversy.
