Days after industrialist Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw raised her voice against the religious divide caused by calls for boycott of Muslim-owned businesses in Karnataka, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday said that such incidents will stop the country’s development.
“Some organisations in Karnataka issued a fatwa asking [people] to not buy goods from businesses owned by minorities. This country allows freedom of doing business to each individual, be it Dalit, tribal, minority or majority. If the business is good, the produce is fine, our society respects such enterprises. But if some organisations who rule the country start warning businesses over religious identity then the country will go nowhere. It will damage the country’s development,” Mr. Pawar said. He was speaking at a programme in Sangli district of Maharashtra.
The former Union Minister said that the NCP needs to fight against such fundamentalists.
