Why are you so afraid of Mr. Fadnavis?

It has been reported that Nationalist Congress Party MP Supriya Sule has instructed her party’s spokespersons and leaders that, they should only target Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis while making statements.

The State has seen Supriya Sule’s ‘hatred for Fadnavis’ from time to time in the last ten years. The instruction to only target Fadnavis coming directly from Supriya Sule, who is the daughter of senior leader Sharad Pawar, is clearly showing the level to which the party’s political culture has fallen.

A few days ago, Uddhav Thackeray also used the language, ‘either you will stay or I will stay,’ while addressing Devendra Fadnavis. Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange-Patil, has also been targeting only and only Devendra Fadnavis since last one year. After analysing these developments, the question naturally arises that why these people are afraid of Devendra Fadnavis’s leadership.

In politics, opposition opposing the ruling party is considered as a fundamental principle of democracy. If that was the reason to oppose Devendra Fadnavis’s leadership, then there was no reason for anyone to object.

This scathing criticism shows the phobia in the mind of opposition. Supriyatai has been in politics for many years, she is also the member of the Parliament, yet she is not seen as the political heir to Sharad Pawar.

Nevertheless, no one will dare to say that her statements clarifying the policies and political directions of the party are made without the consent of Pawar Saheb. It must be kept in mind that Pawar saheb has never himself given a clarification that he does not agree with Supriya Sule’s statement. In case of Ajit Pawar, Pawar, saheb has kept a distance in many incidents. This proves that the statement made by Supriya Sule to target Devendraji has been made with the consent of Pawar Saheb.

Maharashtra has often experienced Sharad Pawar’s dominance in politics till 2014. Whether Pawar Saheb was in power or not, his role in Maharashtra politics was always decisive. Since the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections, this belief has begun to shatter. In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance won as many as 42 seats. Sharad Pawar could not achieve this kind of a success even when he was the Chief Minister during Congress rule in the State and as well as when he was the agriculture minister for NCP at the Centre. Pawar has never been able to achieve double digit seats in Lok Sabha elections till date since formation of NCP in 1999. In 2014, even Supriya tai won Baramati seat with a very slender margin. Till 2014, Pawar family member had won Baramati seat by margin of at least two lakh votes. Looking at this background, the success achieved by Bharatiya Janata Party raised a question mark on Pawar’s leadership. In the 2014 assembly elections, Uddhav Thackray went his separate way and broke the alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party. Uddhav Thackeray decided to fight alone when elections were just round the corner.

In the 5 assembly elections held during the period of 1990 to 2014, Bharatiya Janata Party had contested only 117 seats in each election. The remaining 170 seats went to the Shiv Sena. As the organization was not very well prepared to fight for these 170 seats for Vidhan Sabha election, it was extremely difficult for the BJP to choose candidates for 170 seats and to fight the election at the eleventh hour.

Still Bharatiya Janata Party won 124 seats in 2014. Pawar saheb earlier through Samajwadi Congress and then through NCP had challenged Congress in three elections. In those three elections of 1980, 1985 and 1999 Pawar saheb could only win 50 to 60 seats. In 1990, Congress could not even get the clear majority under Pawar saheb’s leadership.

In fact, in 1995, BJP-Shiv Sena defeated congress under the leadership of Pawar and came to power. The point here is, Pawar when fought alone or when fought with congress, never got a clear majority. In this background, the Bharatiya Janata Party winning 124 seats in 2014 was of great importance. In 2019, BJP contested 160 seats and won 105. Development in the State gathered pace under the leadership of Devendra Fadnavis government which came into power in 2014. After realizing that the popularity of Fadnavis government and Bharatiya Janata Party is on the rise, systematic efforts to stop Devendra Fadnavis began. In 2019, luring Uddhav Thackeray as Chief Minister to break BJP-Shiv sena alliance was part of this strategy only. Even after being in power for many years, let alone giving reservation to Maratha community, Pawar saheb could not even solve the education and employment problem of Maratha students and youth.

Devendra Fadnavis helped creating one lakh entrepreneurs in Maratha community by providing financial support to Annasaheb Patil Vikas Mahamandal. After Eknath Shinde rejoined hands with BJP to preserve Balasaheb’s Hindutva, opposition has realized that their strategy to stop BJP is going to fail and therefore once again there is a conspiracy to create unrest in the state. Both Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackray have avoided answering the question whether they will give Maratha community a reservation in OBC quota. BJP’s stand on this from day one is to give separate reservation to Maratha community. When Devendra Fadnavis was chief minister, he gave separate reservation to Maratha community in the framework of the constitution and it was also upheld till the preliminary hearing in the Supreme Court.

Devendra Fadnavis is being targeted because Pawar and Uddhav Thackray are afraid of their existence. The limitations of Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray’s politics are apparent from this. Mahavikas Aghadi has achieved success in Lok Sabha election by spreading confusion among Muslim community and Dalit Community, but they have now realized that this propaganda will not be helpful in Vidhan Sabha election. Voters do not respond to these tactics; it has been seen earlier also and it will be seen in coming assembly election as well.

 

(Article Pre-Published in Times of India Online – 09 September 2024)

Keshav Upadhye, Chief Spokesperson