Maratha Rebellion: Sharad Pawar Stands Tall Against BJP-Sena

Sharad Pawar’s NCP has emerged as the biggest Opposition party in Maharashtra, winning over 50 seats

From left to right: Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray, NCP Chief Sharad Pawar and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. 

(Photo Courtesy: The Quint/Kamran Akhter)

Cameraperson: Shiv Kumar Maurya and Mukul Bhandari

One of the most iconic images of this Assembly election in Maharashtra is that of a drenched NCP Chief Sharad Pawar addressing a rally in Satara in Western Maharashtra. Although it kept pouring, 78-year-old Pawar stood his ground.

During his speech, he apologised to the people of Satara for choosing Udayanraje Bhonsle as the party’s candidate in the Lok Sabha elections and appealed to them to give him a chance to rectify his mistake.

When Bhonsle, a descendant of Maratha icon Chhatrapati Shivaji defected to the BJP, it was a personal blow to Pawar. The NCP chief put his reputation at stake and vowed to defeat Bhonsle. He fielded reliable party veteran Shriniwas Dadasaheb Patil, who had given Pawar a crucial victory in NCP’s first election in 1999 by defeating senior Congress leader and Pawar baiter Prithviraj Chavan in the Karad Lok Sabha seat.

Pawar's appeal seemed to have struck a chord with the voters as the NCP’s Shriniwas Dadasaheb Patil defeated Udayanraje Bhonsle by over 80,000 votes in Satara.

Addressing a press conference after the results, Pawar said, “Prima facie this is a negative verdict against those who left the party.” He specifically thanked the people of Satara for heeding his appeal and precipitating Bhonsle’s defeat.

Increase in Seat Tally

Pawar’s victory wasn’t restricted to Satara. The party won over 50 seats in the Assembly polls. This was a gain from the party’s tally of 42 in 2014 and particularly significant given the many MLAs who had defected from the party.

The NCP chief’s battle against deserters and the eventual defeat of many of them is significant. This was Pawar’s way of telling the BJP that his defeat cannot be engineered by poaching people and the saffron party would have to defeat him.

By tapping into Maratha pride and rural distress during the campaign, Pawar managed to increase the NCP’s tally across rural pockets in the state.

This was especially evident in the rural and semi-rural seats in Western Maharashtra, of which the NCP won over 40 percent, well ahead of all other parties.

In fact, it isn’t just the Marathas who boosted the NCP’s prospects. In seats with over 30 percent Adivasi population, the party secured more seats than any other party.

It appears that the NCP successfully harnessed the rural anger against the BJP government over issues like flood relief, farmers’ suicides, water woes and inadequate Minimum Support Prices.

“Power comes, power goes but those who are connected to the ground will always work to serve the people,” Pawar stated at the press conference.

Pawar’s Front-Footed Battle

This hasn’t been an easy battle for Pawar. Besides defections, Pawar had to face legal troubles in the run-up to the elections as well, with the Enforcement Directorate registering a case against him in connection with the alleged co-operative bank scam in Maharashtra.

Instead of running for cover, Pawar went on the offensive and threatened to visit the ED office in Mumbai. Fearing a mobilisation by Pawar’s supporters, the nervous ED backed off. However, the damage had already been done.

It created the perception of the BJP hounding 78-year-old Pawar among the Marathas and the NCP chief, to his credit, played this card to the hilt.

Even though the Congress didn’t fight with the same intensity, Pawar battled on.

Instead of skirting the issue, he repeatedly questioned the BJP’s narrative by saying, “What does (abrogation of) Article 370 mean for Maharashtra’s farmers?”

He arrived at tactical adjustments with smaller parties like Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and the Samajwadi Party, which also helped the NCP.

After the results, the NCP has emerged as the largest Opposition party and is set to bag the Leader of Opposition’s post. In all likelihood, it might go to Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar, who has won by a massive 1.6 lakh votes from the family stronghold Baramati.

At 78, Pawar has taught a lesson not only to the BJP and Shiv Sena, but also to the Congress, on how an electoral battle is fought.