Sharad Pawar, single handedly raised the morale of a flagging and demoralized NCP, reclaimed western Maharashtra for the party,and became largely responsible for preventing a BJP-Shiv Sena sweep in Maharashtra.
Much has been written about the image of Nationalist Congress Party(NCP) leader, Sharad Pawar, addressing a rally in Satara, wetted to the skin, water steaming down his face. Even as people around him on the stage looked uncomfortable, Pawar powered on with the unfailing instinct of a politician . To have stepped down or taken shelter would have meant a missed opportunity and that is not what the veteran politician built his reputation on.
The image was an ageless one. It was Pawar at his best says his admirers. It was his detractors, who also unwillingly admire him would say it was Pawar at his cunning. The incident proves all the nicknames he is known by: cunning Maratha, Maratha strongman, king of Baramati, shrewd, crafty and more. It showed at 78, he was still master of his game.
It was certainly the main takeaway image of the 2019 Assembly election. And given the Assembly outcome it acquired iconic proportions because it came to be associated with the turnaround vote that benefited the NCP and the Congress as well as the muted mandate given to the Bhartiya Janta Party and the Shiv Sena.
Although the Satara rally was the difining moment for the NCP, the credit for the party’s turnaround cannot be solely as ascribed to it. It was to be shared with the 66 other rallies and meetings that Pawar addressed. It was these that rescued the Congress-NCP alliance from the edge of irrelevance and forgetfulness.
Failure is instructive and no one knows that better than Pawar, who demonstrated this when he asked the crowd at a Pune rally to forgive him and to help him “correct the mistake he made” in trusting a man who did not value his seat. The double meaning were not lost on the crowd, who roared in approval. The man he was referring to was Udyanraje Bhosle. The “mistake” that Pawar referred to was Fielding Bhosle, a direct discendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji,as the NCP candidate for Satara Lok Sabha seat. The constituency was not just the NCP’s stronghold, but Bhosle’s, heriditary seat, the “throne” of Shivaji. Bhosale won the Lok Sabha seat in May but within months defected to the BJP. The Election Commission announced a by-election for the Satara seat. In the October by-election, the two-time MP lost to the NCP’s Shriniwas Patil.
Pawar also knows the value of acknowledging his mistakes. In a post-result meeting, he said that the NCP had to strengthen it’s urban base, thereby recognising the fact that the party had fared poorly in urban areas. He also said he would be inducting new faces in the state party. But while he is all set to give NCP the right aspect, he is aware of the essential elements that he and his party are made of. He is under no illusion that these basics need to change. Although the NCP launched as a Nationalist party, it has its roots in Maharashtra. Pawar hopes to strengthen the regional roots and build on them.
Leadership comes easily to Pawar, and if it seemed that he had taken a break from it, then he is ready to scatter that impression.