M A I N   N E W S

The Last Word
Sharad Pawar
A seasoned player
Shiv Kumar & Vibha Sharma

He rules agricultural and cricket fields. He often scores well and bats hard for his team. He has been frequently caught and bowled out, yet he bounces back. With fans and well-wishers in both teams, Sharad Pawar is indeed a dexterous player who dismisses most challenges with the flick of a wrist.

He sought to head the International Cricket Council (ICC) and by golly he did! It’s another matter that around the same time, the Union Agriculture Minister requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to “lighten his burden”.

Sharadchandra Govindrao Pawar comes from a family engaged in farming, but his record as Union Minister of Agriculture, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has been less than enviable, as he seems to realise himself.

The younger Pawar was known for his effectiveness as an administrator. In fact, the YB Chavan protégé became the country’s youngest Chief Minister at 38 when he split the Congress to form the Progressive Democratic Front government in Maharashtra in 1978. The late JRD Tata hailed him as India’s future prime minister. Well, that prediction did not come true and in less than two years, with Indira Gandhi back in the saddle in New Delhi, the PDF government was turfed out and AR Antulay became Chief Minister.

Sharad Pawar might have faded into oblivion had not Rajiv Gandhi brought him back into the Congress and reinstalled him as Chief Minister in the mid-1980s. With an eye on the top position, he moved to New Delhi following Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. However, Pawar did not cut much ice in Delhi and he returned to home base in 1992 after the Babri Masjid riots.

The riots saw Shiv Sena emerge as a major political force in Maharashtra and the Maratha strongman’s famed political skills failed to checkmate Bal Thackeray. Pawar’s own standing in the state took a beating after Mumbai’s Deputy Municipal Commissioner GR Khairnar launched a high-pitched campaign accusing him of corruption. His allegations that Pawar was behind large-scale dereservation of land meant for public purposes stuck. Though Khairnar couldn’t produce a shred of evidence against Pawar, people flocked in large numbers to hear the maverick bureaucrat abuse the sitting Chief Minister.

By then, Pawar had made too many enemies within the Congress and there was no one from the Nehru-Gandhi loyalist camp to stand by him. After the Shiv Sena and ally Bharatiya Janata Party rode to power in Maharashtra, it became clear that Pawar had scored enough self-goals.

In yet another display of poor sense of timing, Pawar broke away from the Congress to form his Nationalist Congress Party in 1999 after Sonia Gandhi plunged into politics. Pawar’s second revolt, which robbed the Congress of precious numbers in Parliament, is seen as having paved the way for the National Democratic Alliance at the Centre. The NCP’s decision to form a coalition government in Maharashtra, while staying on the right side of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led Central Government, further enraged the Congress.

Sharad Pawar does not expect mercy from his adversaries. Let there be no doubt on this score: there is no one happier than Congressmen from Maharashtra as Pawar fields bouncers and googlies on the cricket field. If Pawar’s only child and heir Supriya Sule also suffers, it is a bonus. Sonia’s Congress is certainly giving Pawar a longer rope than it did to its own Shashi Tharoor, but it might as well be with the intention of entangling the inconvenient heavyweight in knots.

These past days have seen Pawar fight a rearguard battle to protect his reputation with support only from daughter Supriya and the NCP. His own nephew and former protégé Ajit Pawar is sulking at being sidelined. Even Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, who owes his position to Pawar personally, is advertising his Other Backward Caste status more than support for his leader.

Meanwhile, the Congress is waiting. Slowly, Pawar’s bastions of support are being chipped away. A younger generation of Maratha leaders in the Congress, who owe nothing to Pawar, are asserting themselves and tightening their grip over the cooperative movement from which flows much power and pelf in the state.

The threat of action from enforcement agencies over what appear to be murky dealings in the Indian Premier League is causing even confirmed loyalists to give Pawar a wide berth. If Pawar expected Board of Control for Cricket in India president Shashank Manohar to get him off the hook over his Pune-based company’s bid for an IPL franchise, he must surely be disappointed.

Still, Congressmen in Maharashtra know that they should underestimate Pawar at their own peril. Despite taking a few hard knocks, Pawar’s Western Maharashtra citadel is intact and so is his grip over the electorate.

The Maratha strongman is credited with changing the face of the region in just a few decades. Formerly barren, Pawar’s pocket borough Baramati is now a flourishing agricultural centre and continues to be in upgrade mode. From cultivating rice to dairying to growing grapes for winemaking, farmers are encouraged to do it all. With neighbouring Pune abuzz as an IT hub, rural Baramati is reinventing itself to emerge as a suburb of the expanding city.

Because of the socialist background he inherited from his mother, a leading light of the Peasants and Workers Party, Pawar presents the religious, moderate face of Maharashtra. Unlike others of his ilk, one does not find Pawar at the feet of assorted godmen. He enjoys an enormous traction among women voters for his progressive approach to their rights. He is credited with the move to issue joint title deeds for agricultural lands to wives of farmers.

Known to be very friendly with leaders of all major business houses and parties across the spectrum, Pawar’s ability to mobilise funds is unmatched, especially during elections. Officially worth Rs 8 crore, according to a filing before the Election Commission in 2009, he is widely regarded as one of the country’s richest politicians.

Right now, there are too many balls in the air and just one man batting. But then, Sharad Pawar is a skillful player who has repeatedly proved himself in the hurly burly world of politics. Credited with many shockers, it is no surprise that his detractors are spending sleepless nights.