A rural development scheme named after him, a digital platform ‘Maha Sharad’ to provide assistance to the differently abled and a mega recruitment drive. As he turned 80 on Saturday, these birthday gifts will ensure that Sharadchandra Govindrao Pawar aka Sharad Pawar, will go down in the annals of history as one of the few public figures to have schemes named after them during their lifetime.
There were reports about another bigger gift in store — the elevation of the veteran politician and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief as the chairman of the opposition United Progressive Alliance (UPA) replacing Congress president Sonia Gandhi. However, these reports were scotched by the birthday boy himself, though leaders from other parties like Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena and Sushilkumar Shinde (Congress) have backed the idea.
Sceptics may scoff and claim that for helming the fractured opposition against the Narendra Modi juggernaut, the Maratha politician has just five MPs in the Lok Sabha. But this is how it has always been. Pawar, who is described as a 24X7 politician, and one who can often put much younger men to shame with his energy levels, has always punched far above his weight.
Pawar’s initiation into politics began as a three-day-old infant in 1940 as he was cradled by his mother Sharadabai — a gutsy, unconventional woman who broke the norms of the day — as she attended a meeting of the Pune district local board (as the Zilla Parishads were then known).
Mentored by veteran Congressman YB Chavan, who later became the deputy prime minister, Pawar fought and won his first public election in 1967 from Baramati. In 1978, after following Chavan out of the parent Congress into the Congress (U), Pawar was the industries minister in the coalition government with the Congress (I) under Vasantdada Patil. However, Pawar split his party to become the youngest chief minister of Maharashtra at the age of 38 in a coalition with the Janata Party. But this government was dismissed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1980 after she returned to power.
Despite consolidating his Congress (Socialist) in opposition to the Congress (I), Pawar merged his party with it in 1986, thus creating a political opening in regions like Marathwada for the Shiv Sena, which by then was restricted to areas around Mumbai. In what has often raised questions about his credibility, Pawar’s career has been characterised by dramatic changes in political positions almost every decade. These include forming the NCP (1999) post his expulsion from the Congress after raising the issue of Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origins, but joining hands with it soon after for power in Maharashtra and later, the Centre. The NCP tried to unsuccessfully attempt a pre-poll alliance with the Shiv Sena for the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. The NCP also snapped its alliance with the Congress before the 2014 polls and entered into a brief post-election dalliance with the BJP with Prime Minister Modi showering fulsome praise on Pawar.
However, 2019 marks a watershed in Pawar’s political career. While the Congress gave up on even the pretence of putting up a fight, Pawar led a heroic pushback in the state assembly elections against the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in Maharashtra despite the massive desertions from his ranks. Later, Pawar emerged as the chief architect of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government under Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray to keep the BJP out of power. Considering the diverse political character of the three parties which make up this alliance, which includes the Shiv Sena, NCP, Congress, smaller parties and independents, Pawar is seen as the glue keeping the government together.
Like in 1978, where he formed a Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) with a hopscotch of allies, the NCP chief is said to have nurtured an ambition to repeat this experiment at the national level. However, like his mentor Chavan, the Prime Minister’s chair has remained elusive for Pawar despite his attempts since the 1990s, thus earning him the moniker of the “best Prime Minister India never had.” The 1990s also saw Pawar being embroiled in a series of controversies.
As someone who can beat the BJP’s Chanakyas at their own game, Pawar’s partisans claim that their leader can repeat the Maharashtra experiment nationally. They state that if not as the UPA chief, their leader due his vast experience in politics and administrative abilities, may emerge as the focal point around whom non-BJP and regional parties can coalesce.
Congress leaders stress on the need to connect the dots. They point to how Pawar had recently made a statement criticising Congress scion Rahul Gandhi for his lack of consistency. This, coupled with Sonia Gandhi’s gradual withdrawal from a leadership role, and the reports of Pawar being considered for the position of the UPA chairman, hint that the veteran politician may be trying to fill a vacuum. But, a section of the Congress may resist the idea of an “outsider” like Pawar being chosen as the UPA chairperson despite the Grand Old Party being its largest constituent. Hence, a win-win may be him being accommodated as the UPA’s convenor.
However, despite the usual panegyrics and hosannas, the chinks in the politics of the NCP and its leadership are all too obvious.
For one, unlike other regional satraps of Congress stock who struck out on their own like Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal) and Y.S Jaganmohan Reddy (Andhra Pradesh), Pawar has been unable to gain a sweeping majority in his state. The NCP’s best showing in the assembly was in 2004, when it notched up 71 seats, and its tally in the Lok Sabha has never crossed double-digits. Moreover, the NCP lacks a strong pan-Maharashtra character, with its pockets of support being restricted to parts of western Maharashtra and Marathwada.
In Maharashtra, the NCP has launched a gradual, sub-terrain movement to expand its influence and reach out to a fresh social constituency among the Dalits and other backwards, capturing space ceded to it by ally Congress, which is in retreat. Ḥowever, this social outreach runs the risk of antagonising the dominant Marathas, who form the bulwark of support for the party. Proving that age is just a number, Pawar, a cancer survivor, is also touring Maharashtra extensively to strengthen his party.
However, there is an elephant in the room — the question of the NCP’s leadership. That Pawar is not on the best of terms with his nephew and incumbent deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar is one of the state’s worst kept secrets. Since Pawar’s “invisible hand” is often attributed to any major political developments in Maharashtra, the final word is yet to be said on the uncle’s role in the run-up to the nephew’s rebellion, where he joined hands with Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP in a short-lived government.
Pawar’s brutal takedown of Ajit’s son Parth, who had sought a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, reveals that these cracks are yet to be papered on. It is said that Parth, who lost the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Maval as an NCP nominee, is upset at the political elevation of his paternal cousin Rohit (grandson of Pawar’s brother Appasaheb), who has been elected as a legislator from Ahmednagar district.
The durability of the MVA will also be tested as the allies get down to the difficult task of seat sharing before the local body elections due in 2021 and 2022.
Hence, the NCP chief may have his task cut out for him — trying to assume a larger role nationally as he keeps his house in order.
Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here
Comments
0 comment