‘Delhi takht’ line a bid to regain Maratha strongman image?

When Sharad Pawar declared, in the wake of the ED filing a case against him, that he would “not bow before the takht (throne) of Delhi,” he was seeking to resuscitate an old narrative about Maharashtra’s struggle against the powers that be, and specifically Shivaji Maharaj’s rebellion against Aurangzeb.


Such a narrative could once work in Maratha country, but how voters will construe it today is unclear given NCP’s own record in the state. Pawar, once called ‘the Maratha strongman,’ has in five years seen this identity supplanted by the Modi and Fadnavis regimes, with their seeking of Shivaji’s “aashirwad,” grant of Maratha quota, and entry into BJP of other Maratha leaders from Congress-NCP, including descendants of Shivaji.


As ever, opinion on Pawar is split. While admirers cite his indefatigable attitude and move to ‘meet’ ED on his own, critics see an unending quest for power. Scores of lieutenants who stood by him when he formed NCP in 1999 have deserted him. In his long career, Pawar has never been so bereft of a second-rung. His party has put up a brave front despite the ED action, warning defectors they will be countered by infusing NCP with young blood. However, CM Devendra Fadnavis has said Pawar’s strategy of ‘breaking and making’ parties has caught up with him. Many on social media have said Pawar has lost the ability to see the writing on the wall. Until 2014, even critics would concede that no leader in Maharashtra could read the pulse of the masses better. “Perceptions change when a neta is not on the winning side for long,” a political analyst said. “Saheb (Pawar) has switched sides and changed his stand on issues. Many times, he’s been politically incorrect, and opponents have pounced on this to dent his credibility,” an NCP leader said.

Pawar’s big break in politics was when, in 1978, he rebelled against the Congress government led by Vasantdada Patil and became the state’s youngest CM at age 38. He went on to be a three-time CM and Union minister. Workers across party lines say he can still hold marathon meetings at Pune’s Baramati Hostel to redress issues of marginal farmers. Yet many also accuse him of diverting water from dams to sugarcane fields and townships like Lavasa at the cost of small farmers. His admirers recall how he monitored relief after the 1993 Latur earthquake; at the same time critics blame him for the 1994 Gowari stampede.

Pawar has gone against popular sentiment in his own community: on quota, he initially favoured economic criteria. He became known for a ‘progressive outlook’ after his bid to give women representation in local self-bodies, safeguard rights of the girl child in ancestral property and support for renaming of Marathwada University. But this image was dented when opponents went to town accusing him of practising caste-based politics.

After the 1993 blasts, Gopinath Munde carried out a campaign accusing Pawar of criminalising politics. Yet in 2016, Modi lauded him for the crackdown on gangland. And the sternest critics tell stories about his reading habit, understanding of Marathi literature and arts, and his collection of pens. For the veteran of many battles, will the ED case be the one that changes the script decisively?