Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar rarely, if ever, plays with a straight bat, but the numerous different strokes that he has pulled off in the course of a long, eventful political career have invariably yielded rich dividends. The hugely influential Maharashtra heavyweight has only 11 Members of Parliament with him, but his Nationalist Congress Party, which he formed when he broke away from the Congress in protest against Sonia Gandhi, a foreigner, taking charge of the party, remains a key player in the United Progressive Alliance. Says Abu Asim Azmi, Maharashtra Samajwadi Party chief: “Pawar is a worshipper of power. He called Sonia a foreigner and spoke against her long, very long ago, asserting that an Italian lady cannot become India’s Prime Minister. But the same man now does not tire of extolling the worthy qualities of ‘Soniaji’.”
Pawar is indeed the great survivor of Indian politics. He has survived ill health and changing political equations to hold his own on the national stage. He began early. Youth Congress president at 24, state Cabinet minister at 29 and Maharashtra Chief Minister at 38, he has put his wealth of political experience to great use to weed out rivals and surmount difficult situations. If politics is the art of the possible, Pawar is its past master. Says Azmi: “He is an opportunist and a self-server. Farmers are killing themselves in Vidarbha, but this shetkari (peasant) leader is more interested in the games that he plays.”
No matter what his detractors might say, Pawar, who as chairman of the Board of Control for Cricket in India is now in line to take over as International Cricket Council chief next year, is a leader with mass appeal in Maharashtra. He does have prime ministerial ambitions, but he is probably fully aware that he does not stand a chance of taking the top job as long as he is at the helm of a small political outfit. So expect many more twists in the Sharad Pawar saga in the years ahead. “He has systematically eliminated many of his rivals. If anybody wants to learn the intricacies of political tricks, Pawar is the man to go to,” says Azmi.
Pawar is indeed the great survivor of Indian politics. He has survived ill health and changing political equations to hold his own on the national stage. He began early. Youth Congress president at 24, state Cabinet minister at 29 and Maharashtra Chief Minister at 38, he has put his wealth of political experience to great use to weed out rivals and surmount difficult situations. If politics is the art of the possible, Pawar is its past master. Says Azmi: “He is an opportunist and a self-server. Farmers are killing themselves in Vidarbha, but this shetkari (peasant) leader is more interested in the games that he plays.”
No matter what his detractors might say, Pawar, who as chairman of the Board of Control for Cricket in India is now in line to take over as International Cricket Council chief next year, is a leader with mass appeal in Maharashtra. He does have prime ministerial ambitions, but he is probably fully aware that he does not stand a chance of taking the top job as long as he is at the helm of a small political outfit. So expect many more twists in the Sharad Pawar saga in the years ahead. “He has systematically eliminated many of his rivals. If anybody wants to learn the intricacies of political tricks, Pawar is the man to go to,” says Azmi.
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
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