Reacting to the police complaints filed against former MLC and political analyst Professor K Nageshwar, Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan on Monday, May 25, asked why he should go soft on him. Even as Nageshwar has withdrawn his remarks, Pawan Kalyan said his party will not tolerate any attacks against him.
“If people throw stones at Jana Sena Party, there will be appropriate consequences. Even I will have anger and sorrows. I am a human too. If you beat us should we tolerate it? Won't our hearts have tears? Is pain yours alone? Shouldn’t we even give counters? Why? Is having a privilege our curse? Why will we tolerate any longer? We have done it for many years,” Pawan Kalyan expressed at the JSP’s meeting at Rajamahendravaram.
“Stop using Pawan Kalyan as a punching bag for your growth,” he said. The Jana Sena Party chief said that he does not fear any electoral setbacks over confronting his political rivals.
“I have tolerated many people with patience. But from now on I won't exercise restraint, there will only be consequences. I do not have any fear of losing or winning elections. I will keep marching forward.”
Pawan Kalyan made these remarks in response to Nageshwar’s claims that the former had approached Union Home Minister Amit Shah to punish YS Jagan Mohan Reddy by sending him to jail. According to Nageshwar, Amit Shah declined to intervene in the matter, saying that while Chandrababu Naidu is an “instant friend”, Jagan is a “long-term friend” of the BJP. Nageshwar made these claims during a TV news debate. These comments triggered widespread outrage amongst the TDP and JSP members. While the TDP launched online personal attacks against the political analyst, the JSP went one step further by filing multiple cases against him, leading to concerns over freedom of speech.
Denying the allegations of him seeking the imprisonment of Jagan with Amit Shah, Pawan Kalyan said: “Why should I ask to send someone to prison? Do I need to tell them? Doesn’t the institution know? There are cases against him in ACB courts. Don't they know it?”
“This is not an insult to me, but a humiliation of the institution,” Pawan Kalyan said.
The Jana Sena Party president wondered why the Andhra BJP MPs were not equally agitated over the incident. He claimed that he would have let go of the remarks had he been targeted alone but he made an exception after Amit Shah was also mentioned.
“There have been many times when my character was assassinated, I never bothered about it. But I felt it was wrong when they mentioned Amit Shah too. It was condemnable.”
Likening Amit Shah’s stature to freedom fighter Sardar Vallabhai Patel, Pawan Kalyan said that barring a few BJP leaders, nobody found it offensive.
Finding fault with Nageshwar’s logic of Jagan’s imprisonment, Pawan Kalyan said that he could have used the opportunity to become the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh when Chandrababu Naidu was arrested.
“I don't understand the logic behind an analyst saying that I want Jagan to be sent to jail. It's crazy logic to think that if Jagan goes to jail, I will benefit. If Chandrababu goes to jail, wouldn't I have tried and become the CM? That's not my theory. I will hit the enemy when he is strong. I won't hit him when he is weak.”
He also sought to know why exceptions should be made for analysts. “If you question the analysts.. how can they hold the caste card? Should we sit with our hands folded if we speak as we please.. don't we get angry?” Justifying the party’s aggression, Pawan Kalyan said that excessive patience turns into incompetence. Following the attacks on Nageshwar, some members of the Vysya community had extended their solidarity to the political analyst.
Meanwhile, Nageshwar issued a statement on the same day on X (formerly Twitter) saying that the issue stands closed after he withdrew his remarks.
“My recent comments relating to AP politics have been withdrawn. The JanaSena leadership has accepted the withdrawal and appealed to everyone to treat the matter as closed forthwith. The entire issue now stands closed, and there is no purpose in revisiting any of those comments,” Nageshwar wrote on X.