Sharad Pawar: An extraordinary leader still at center stage of national politics

Shiv Sena was leading the government consisting of Congress and Nationalist Congress Party. It was a political miracle giving a new twist to the country’s traditional politics and Sharad Pawar played a pivotal role in bringing about this impossible miracle, earning the nickname 'Janata Raja'. On the veteran's 80th birthday Prakash Pawar, political analyst Prakash Pawar writes about how Pawar has turned to be one of the shrewdest politicians India has ever had.

New Delhi:As the nation celebrates noted politician Sharad Pawar's 80th birthday today, the extraordinary leader who is still at the centre stage of state, as well as national politics, has way many years to go as far as career is concerned.

Known to experiment at every phase of his 60 years of public life, Pawar has been in news for creating a political earthquake in an important and progressive state like Maharashtra, one year ago, by forming a coalition that political pundits could have ever imagined, among many other things.

Shiv Sena was leading the government consisting of Congress and Nationalist Congress Party. It was a political miracle giving a new twist to the country’s traditional politics and Sharad Pawar played a pivotal role in bringing about this impossible miracle, earning the nickname 'Janata Raja'.

Sharad Pawar is an inseparable ingredient of Maharashtra’s politics and social politics. Pawar may be the leader in rarest of the rare category who has maintained his influence in the politics of a state for 6 decades.

Pawar has been active in politics, social life, art, literature, sports in all these years. At the age of eighty years, Maharashtra politics is revolving around Sharad Pawar and this fact was underlined again in the last assembly elections.

Just one year ago, before assembly elections, the political atmosphere was completely favourable to BJP. The scene was that BJP would win with the collaboration of Shiv Sena and opposition leaders were seen helpless. Questions were asked about the very existence of NCP which was always on the frontline of state politics.

The leaders who had remained with Pawar for years were leaving the party one by one and switching to BJP.

In such a negative atmosphere, Pawar, a political warrior did not lose resolve or persistence. Along with youth leaders, he relentlessly went to every corner of Maharashtra campaigning with his message loud and clear that however mighty your enemy is, however negative may be the atmosphere, you should not lose your weapons and fighting spirit.

He gave strength to his party workers for battle and the rally in Satara where he gave his speech notwithstanding heavy rains, was the climax of his campaign. This rally became memorable and it changed the whole atmosphere in the election.

Everybody knows what happened next.

The name Sharad Pawar started to get noticed in Maharashtra as well as in the thick of country’s politics in 1978 when he rebelled against Congress' high command. Because of his mutiny, he formed the government with the help of Janata party and he got the honour of becoming the country’s youngest chief minister of a state.

From 1978 to 1980, from 1988 to 1991 and from 1993 to 1995, he led Maharashtra as chief minister. He left Congress in 1999 and formed the Nationalist Congress Party.

If we study public life of Sharad Pawar, his political journey can be divided into five phases.

In his first phase, he learned the lessons in politics under the leadership of Yashwant Rao Chavan and imbibed value system. He also learned from the Congress value system that very few leaders like Pundit Nehru, Yashwant Rao Chavan, Pranab Mukherjee were aware of.

Sharad Pawar belonged to that club and when he felt that the value system is collapsing in Congress, he left the party and staged a new experiment of Secular Democratic Front or PULOD.

But, it did not last long. It was the second phase of his career.

The third phase was when he returned to Congress making an adjustment with Rajiv Gandhi.

If we are to take into consideration of the fourth phase of Pawar’s career, he cleverly recognized the era of politics of coalition and started to make strategy suitable to it.

The fifth phase in his political career was a political miracle of bringing together Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena in last assembly elections. Now, new winds are flowing
at the national level of repeating the experiment. It will be the highest point of his career.

If we think these five phases of his political career, we can say that he has done many new experiments each phase and gained success also. That is the reason that his leadership still attracts everybody at the national level.

Once again, the country is watching him eagerly what the octogenarian leader create new equations at the national level.