Sharad Pawar has said he was surprised at PM Modi's remark on NRC. (PTI)

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared to backtrack from one of BJP's key promises of introducing all-India NRC, NCP chief Sharad Pawar has said he was surprised by the remark as he was present at a meeting in Rajya Sabha in which Home Minister Amit Shah made his intentions about the same very clear.

Reacting to PM Modi's remark, Sharad Pawar said on Monday, "PM in his speech said all-India NRC was never discussed. Praful Patel and I were present at a discussion in Rajya Sabha in where the Home Minister had clearly stated that NRC will be implemented nationwide. Even in the President's address this year to the Parliament, NRC was mentioned."

Addressing an election rally in Delhi's Ramlila Maidan on Sunday, PM Modi said, "I want to tell the 130 crore people of India that ever since my government came to power in 2014, from then until now, there has been no discussion on NRC anywhere. We only had to implement it in Assam to follow Supreme Court directives."

However, time and again have Union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and other BJP leaders such as JP Nadda promised to introduce a nationwide NRC to throw out illegal immigrants from the country.

Even the 2019 Lok Sabha manifesto of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) promises to bring NRC to "other parts of the country" as a measure to achieve its goals of curbing infiltration.

Sharad Pawar has said, "I am surprised by what the PM has said about NRC. I cannot say what was discussed in the Cabinet but such issues cannot come to the forefront without discussions. Home Minister Amit Shah himself had spoken about implementing it. It was discussed in Parliament too. So I am surprised by what the PM has said."

Pawar also appealed to people protesting against NRC and CAA to not resort to violence and follow the Gandhian methods of protest.

On the other hand, as BJP looked at a major setback in the Jharkhand assembly elections, Sharad Pawar said the state has shown that things are changing.

"I want to thank Jharkhand, they have shown the way things are changing. BJP has not handled the economic situation properly. Many sectors are suffering."

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