People who admire and are fond of
revered Sharad Pawar for his diplomacy and his exemplary political skills leave
no stone unturned to abundantly talk and write about him. ‘Nothing is
impossible for Saheb’ is the most interesting topic that many journalists and
intellectualscan talk about for hours. In fact, on a lighter note, during the
90s, his staunch followers would even attribute the rising and setting of the
sun to Saheb. And hence, whenever Saheb confronted or dealt with his opponent,
this congregation of journalists and intellectuals would brag about his
achievements. Even today, these people glorify Pawar’s stories from the past.
Pawar’s acumen about agriculture
and his overall administrative skills are unquestionable. His command over
political activities and his skill of keeping administrators at bay is
indisputable. But despite all this, Pawar failed to achieve desired results in
politics. And none of his supporters ever made attempts to study itsreasons.
One needs to evaluate Pawar’s political acumen vis-à-vis his political
progress, the positions he enjoyed and his overall influence in country’s
politics. But unfortunately, his fans do not wish to tread that path.
Recently, Pawar again made it to
the headlines over the Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar’s swearing-inand later
with Eknath Shinde’s rebel against Uddhav Thackeray. Pawar claimed that he was
the one to ask Ajitdada to join hands with the BJP. And this again gave his
supporters a chance to sing praises for him how ‘Saheb is indeed great’. In
this backdrop when one studies his 56-year long career, i.e., from 1967 to
2023, one will realize how Pawar has always failed in garnering ‘faith in
politics’ which is why he hasn’t been able to form a government on his own.
Now, let’s dig into why Pawar’s
statement made it to the headlines. It all began with Eknath Shinde and his
colleagues,bidding ‘Jai Maharashtra’ to Uddhav Thackeray because Uddhav
Thackeray had compromised on ‘Hindutva’ ideology. But Uddhav Thackeray even
today keeps complaining that Eknath Shinde and his colleagues betrayed him and
the Shiv Sena. While commenting about it, deputy chief minister Devendra
Fadnavis reminded people about Sharad Pawar’s rebellion of 1978. Fadnavis said
that even Pawar had succeeded in pulling down the Vasantdada Patil government.
Devendra Fadnavishad questioned that if Sharad Pawar’s joining hands with the
Janata Party to topple the Vasantdada Patil government and bag the chief
ministerial position was called diplomacy why Eknath Shinde’s rebel is called
treason. To this statement, Pawar made a mocking remark, “We had formed the
government with the help of Jana Sangh when Uttamrao Patil of the Jana Sangh
was the deputy chief minister in that prevailing government. Also, at that time
Fadnavis might have been in school so he wouldn’t know these facts.” In fact,
Fadnavis had rightly questioned that if Pawar betraying Vasantdada and forming
an alliance with Janata Party becomes diplomacy how Eknath Shinde’s leaving
Uddhav Thackeray for Hindutva become betrayal and treason. But since Pawar
didn’t have a proper answer to this question, he tried to divert the subject.
And in doing so, he made some
glaring mistakes. Pawar Saheb is revered, the world over, for his excellent
memory; even today he remembers every single friend from his school and college
days including their names and other minute details. But what
surprises me is he forgot what had happened in 1978. Under the Progressive
Democratic Alliance government led by Pawar, Uttamrao Patil wasn’t the deputy
chief minister but Pawar’s associate Sundarrao Solanke of Majalgaon (Dist.
Beed) was the deputy chief minister whereas Uttamrao Patil was the revenue
minister.
Eknath Shinde and his colleagues
had repeatedly urged Uddhav Thackeray to break ties with the Congress and the
Nationalist Congress Party on Hindutva issue. But Uddhav Thackeray kept ignoring
them, as a result Shinde and his colleagues distanced themselves and formed
government with the BJP. In this backdrop, when Pawar versus Shinde’s rebellion
is compared, I sincerely feel that Pawar’s rebellion did not have any
philosophical basis.
Pawar had tried to hide his
motive from Vasantdada but when he planned the exit with the help of his
colleagues, Vasantdada smelt something fishy and confronted him. Pawar had
firmly told him that he had no intention of leaving the government but within
the next few hours, he left Dada’s cabinet. This has been publicly narrated by
senior leader and a collegue in Pawars rebellion, Prataprao Bhosale. Vasantdada
was deeply pained for having lost his chair due to this betrayal, he had openly
expressed his grief as well. Since then, Pawar has not been able to clean his
‘stained’ credibility.
In 1980, after Indira Gandhi’s
Congress won the Assembly elections in majority, Vasantdada had requested her
to make him the chief minister for at least one day. During the 80s, under the
Samajwadi Congress, Pawar had publicly stated, “I will go to the Himalayas by
putting ash on my body but will never join hands with the Congress”. However,
in 1986, he made a secret return to the Congress. In fact, Pawar’s credibility
has always remained questionable since 1978. And that was the only reason why
either as Samajwadi Congress or as Nationalist Congress Party, Pawar never
managed to gain power in the state on his own. Not only in the political
circle, but Pawar failed to gain confidence in the minds of the common people
as well.
Many regional leaders like NTR,
Devilal, Mayawati, Mamata Banerjee, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Jagan Mohan Reddy,
Chandrababu, Naveen Patnaik managed to establish supremacy by defeating the
Congress in their respective states. But so far, Pawar hasn’t been able to
create trust in the minds of the common people and thus bag majority. There is
a shloka in the Bhagwad Gita which states, ‘Yadyapyete na pashyanti
lobhopahatchetas aha:| Kulakshaykritam dosham mitradrohe cha patakam’ (Their
thoughts are overpowered by greed and they see no wrong in annihilating their
relatives or wreaking treachery upon friends) This shloka aptly suits Pawar’s
style of politics. When Pawar returned to the Congress, it was believed that
Congress’ strength will increase but Congress failed to get a majority during
the 1990 Assembly elections and had to make good with 140 seats under Pawar’s
leadership. Despite Pawar joining the Congress, the total number of MLAs was
200 followed by Congress losing power in 1995.
Now let us quickly discuss about
the so-called ‘googly’ by Pawar. In his autobiography “Lok Maze Sangati”, Pawar
had confessed that his nephew went against him. And now, he claimed that he had sent his nephew to join hands with the BJP. This clearly shows Pawar’s
desperate attempt to prove ‘Saheb abhi Zinda Hain’ (Saheb is still active). He
still fails to realise that with his so-called ‘googly’, he is in fact
finishing whatever little credibility he has had. Many regional parties managed
to gain power in the respective states on their own. Even Ajitdada Pawar had
recently expressed his regret that NCP hasn’t been able to gain power in the
state on its own. And hence I sincerely feel that at least now, Pawar Saheb
introspects and ponders over his usefulness in politics.
(Article Pre-Published
in Times of India Online – 03 July 2023)
Keshav Upadhye,
Chief Spokesperson
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