For the past three months, if there’s one family dominating headlines in Maharashtra, it is Pawars. It all began with speculations about Ajit Pawar switching over to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). This was followed by Sharad Pawar’s announcement of stepping down as Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief, which he later withdrew; then his daughter Supriya being elevated to the post of working president in the party; and Ajit taking away around 40 legislators with him to join ranks with BJP-Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra.
If most of it was not entirely unpredictable, it was on course with Pawar senior’s brand of politics that on one hand is consistent and contradictory too. In his attempt to explain questions over his credibility in politics, Sharad Pawar in the second edition of his autobiography Lok Maze Sangati has touched on this issue rather frankly.
The four-time chief minister and three-time Union Minister admitted in the book that due to ability to maintain friendship with politicians from various ideological spectrums, cost him politically.
Since the 1980s, Sharad Pawar’s approach towards political leaders in Delhi and his home state has been different. In 1978, Pawar-led rebel group had succeeded in toppling the Vasantdada Patil government – formed after two splinter groups of Congress had joined hands – and becoming the youngest chief minister at the age of 37.
Despite breaking away from Congress, Pawar in subsequent years maintained good relations with Indira Gandhi, a top leader then in Congress. In 1999, when Pawar – hoping for a larger role at the national level and within Congress - quit the party on the issue of Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin and formed NCP, it was just a matter of days before the Maratha strongman joined hands with the same party to return to power in Maharashtra.
{{/usCountry}}Despite breaking away from Congress, Pawar in subsequent years maintained good relations with Indira Gandhi, a top leader then in Congress. In 1999, when Pawar – hoping for a larger role at the national level and within Congress - quit the party on the issue of Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin and formed NCP, it was just a matter of days before the Maratha strongman joined hands with the same party to return to power in Maharashtra.
{{/usCountry}}After Narendra Modi’s emergence in national politics just before the 2014 general elections, it was Pawar who backed then Gujrat’s chief minister. While Congress was critical of Modi, Pawar in the last leg of elections said there should be no more discussion on allegations related to the 2002 Gujarat riots against Modi, as he has been cleared by the courts.
All this indicates that Pawar’s brand of politics includes competing with leaders and at the same time compromising with them. This is more of politics of convenience for Pawar and his party that helped him stay in power for most of his years in politics.
Within Maharashtra too, Pawar has introduced many fresh faces in politics. Be it Jayant Patil, RR Patil, Ajit Pawar and many others, Pawar groomed them in politics. However, at the same time, he took care to create multiple power centres in each district so that they will compete with each other, and this in effect will help Pawar consolidate his position.
In the current crisis too, Pawar’s politics has been inconsistent. On one hand, as Ajit revealed, Pawar senior was constantly in touch – on five occasions between 2014 to 2019 -with BJP leaders for a possible way of joining the government in Maharashtra, he however never let it materialise. This was possibly to give an impression to the BJP that NCP may one day join hands. This, according to observers, helped him keep the flock together, but not beyond a point. When Ajit, an ambitious nephew, realised that neither the power in the state, he is not even getting control over the party, things reached the climax. What followed was something many were anticipating.
However, it is interesting that despite Ajit’s mutiny having resulted in a vertical split in the NCP, Pawar senior has been soft on most rebel leaders. While Pawar senior was restrained in his response to Ajit’s barb of “At 83, are you not going to stop”, the octogenarian has been avoiding any personal attacks against the rebels. Perhaps, Pawar may see hope in reuniting all those who left him.
Perhaps for the same reason, Pawar paid a price in his political career and yet remained relevant all through his five-and-half decade of electoral career.