There is no politician in India other than Maratha strongman Sharad Pawar who can gauge the political mood of the country as he alone can. There is no politician who can present a deceptive picture of matters in a clear cut manner as he can. And there is no leader who can play the game of realpolitik on the chessboard with a poker face.
Pawar has been the only one of his kind in national politics, and it is nothing else but his ill luck that he has not been able to achieve his sole ambition in life—that of becoming Prime Minister. From the very beginning, groomed by the late Yashwant Rao Chavan, Pawar has strived to be better than his mentor. Chavan was able to become the Deputy Prime Minister under Chaudhry Charan Singh in the late 1970s, but the coveted position of the head of government has eluded the guileful Maharashtrian leader.
Earlier in the week, he ruffled many a feather in the Opposition parties by claiming that people did not doubt Narendra Modi’s intentions so far as signing the Rafale deal was concerned. It was perceived as his attempt to distance himself from the continuous attack mounted on the Prime Minister by Rahul Gandhi. So much so, that one of his closest aides, Tariq Anwar, the lone NCP Lok Sabha MP from Bihar, severed his links with him and the party, and announced his resignation from Parliament. For Tariq, it was the only option left since he has to battle the BJP in the Hindi heartland with the assistance of known Modi critics, Lalu Prasad Yadav and the Congress.
However, what Pawar stated assumes monumental significance because while vouching for Modi’s intentions in piloting the deal, he indirectly questioned Rahul Gandhi’s own credibility. Simultaneously, he ensured that by praising Modi, something which was acknowledged by BJP president Amit Shah, he linked the Prime Minister as the principal architect of the arrangement with Dassault—the French company selling the Rafale aircraft to India. The other aspect of his double-edged observation was that he magnified the isolation of the Congress on the subject since no leader of any of the Opposition parties had so far publicly backed the agitation against Rafale headed by Rahul Gandhi, though they all have serious reservations on the subject.
Pawar has correctly perceived that the aircraft issue would be a major factor deployed by the Opposition to corner the government, but has chosen to create an impression of supporting Modi, since he does not want Rahul to be the spearhead of the protest, given that in the minds of people there were question marks over his ability to lead the charge. Evidently, he is unprepared to permit the Gandhis to occupy the pole position in Indian politics.
Pawar is widely regarded as a man of all seasons, primarily because of his phenomenal survival instincts at the top level. He has time and again compromised with the circumstances and managed to sustain his position due to his close personal equation with several front-ranking political leaders cutting across party lines. Repeatedly, he has the propensity of conveying his reservations to his oldest ally, the Congress, on a number of important issues so that he continues to have a prominent voice.
Shortly before the 2014 Parliamentary polls, he was able to discern that the Congress was going to lose power and this would impact the prospects of his own party as well. He then decided to take a well-calibrated and conscious decision of contesting for the Rajya Sabha, leaving his traditional Baramati seat for his daughter Supriya Sule for the Lok Sabha. It was more than a coincidence that both Digvijaya Singh, the foremost leader from Madhya Pradesh, and Kumari Selja, the upcoming Dalit face from Haryana, were sent by the Congress to the Rajya Sabha as well. The message was loud and clear that the grand old party, as well as its allies, were mentally prepared that they were going to be trounced in the Parliamentary polls.
Pawar has attained his mega status due to his own perseverance, which over the years has led to a deep understanding of the country’s political situation. In 1978, while he was in his thirties, he was able to outwit a politician of Indira Gandhi’s calibre when he successfully toppled the Congress(S) and Congress(I) coalition government headed by Vasantdada Patil and Nasikrao Tirupude to become the youngest Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Since then, he has never looked back.
In 1991, soon after Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated, he challenged P.V. Narasimha Rao for the Congress leadership, but withdrew from a possible contest after being persuaded by Makhan Lal Fotedar, a close aide of both Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.
Pawar was able to sense that his chances of leading the Congress were receding, when in the late 1990s, Sonia Gandhi took over as the party chief. He, along with Tariq Anwar and P.A. Sangma, questioned her legitimacy to hold this position, given her Italian origin. Subsequently, he founded the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
At present, he is testing the waters, and wants the leadership issue of a probable alliance against the BJP to be kept open, if the need be, till the post-poll scenario. He is fully aware that there were a number of younger players in the field but is yet hopeful that he still stands a chance. Between us.