A day after the Maharashtra unit of the BJP tweeted an edited video of his speech and accused him of being a Hindu-hater, NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday said he was reading out lines from a poem which presents the pain of the labourer class, but those who wanted to spread misinformation were free to do so.

The @BJP4Maharashtra on Wednesday tweeted a short video of Pawar's speech in Satara and claimed that "atheist Sharad Pawar always hated Hindu religion" and he would not have achieved his political success without insulting Hindu gods and goddesses and indulging in casteism. Some social media users pointed out that Pawar was quoting a poem by Jawahar Rathod which deals with the issue of casteism.