Mumbai: Members of the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) held silent protests in different parts of Maharashtra Thursday over the collapse of a statue of Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Sindhudurg district. The statue was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi just eight months ago. The protesters demanded stringent action by the state government against those responsible.
There was a sense of a deja vu in the scenes that unfolded Thursday as a party that is a member of the ruling coalition in the state took to the streets to protest against its own government.
Between 2014 and 2019, the undivided Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray often used to play the role of an Opposition from the treasury benches. The Shiv Sena eventually splintered its alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
While it is too early to predict the same outcome for the Ajit Pawar-led NCP within the Mahayuti, for now, the party definitely seems to have taken a leaf out of the undivided Shiv Sena’s old playbook, party leaders explain.
“There has been a conscious call within the party to speak out if the government has not done something right. For example, the state government machinery could have been more sensitive in handling the Badlapur case, which didn’t happen. So, we spoke about it with the seriousness that others in the government should have,” a senior functionary from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, who did not wish to be named, told ThePrint.
In the Badlapur case, where a member of a school’s cleaning staff had allegedly sexually assaulted two four-year-old girls, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar had said that governments may come and go, but he will ensure that all those responsible are punished. He also said that sexual offenders should be castrated.
“The party has decided that in every opportunity possible, our leaders will present the party’s individual stand. Members of BJP and RSS have been saying that the NCP’s baggage affected them in the Lok Sabha polls. Similarly, we also don’t want any negative baggage of the BJP and Shinde-led Shiv Sena affecting us,” the above-mentioned NCP functionary said.
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Bargaining power, protecting core voter base
There is a certain similarity between the reasons why the undivided Shiv Sena rebelled against its own government led by the then Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and why the Ajit Pawar-led NCP is choosing to do so occasionally now.
Back then, the Shiv Sena needed to assert itself after emerging as the junior partner within the alliance after the 2014 Maharashtra assembly polls. Similarly, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP had the poorest record of negotiating for seats and actual performance among the three Mahayuti allies in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The Ajit Pawar-led party contested from four seats of which it managed to win just one against the BJP’s nine and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena’s seven.
Moreover, back then, the Shiv Sena needed to find its independent voice and carve an individual identity to jostle for power sharing with the BJP. In case of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP too, the party needs to consolidate its identity independent of the Mahayuti.
There is, however, a nuanced difference here. The Shiv Sena was trying to compete with the BJP for a common voter base, while the Ajit Pawar-led NCP is trying its best to maintain its voter base, which has traditionally seen the BJP as well as the Shinde-led Shiv Sena as rivals.
“In the last two months, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP has been visibly trying to distance itself from the anti-BJP sentiments in the state. During the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP suffered due to a backlash from the Muslims, Dalits and Marathas in the state. The Ajit Pawar-led NCP does not want these sentiments to directly impact the party and that is why it is creating a distance,” political commentator Abhay Deshpande told ThePrint.
A second source from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, who did not wish to be named, told ThePrint that along with deciding to question the government whenever required, the party has also taken another conscious decision to avoid any comments or criticism of NCP founder Sharad Pawar.
“We have consciously decided not to talk about Pawar saheb’s (Sharad Pawar) age or how he must retire. Such statements negatively impact us. Even during the Lok Sabha election campaign, we think we had to bear the brunt of criticism that Prime Minister Modi and Amit Shah had hurled at Pawar saheb,” he said.
In an election rally in Pune, Modi, in a veiled dig at Sharad Pawar, called him a “bhatakti aatma (wandering soul).” Ajit Pawar had simply responded saying he didn’t know who the prime minister was referring to. In another rally, Union Minister Amit Shah had slammed Sharad Pawar as a “sargana” (ringleader) who institutionalised corruption.
NCP’s assertion and the widening cracks within Mahayuti
While there has been ample friction between all three Mahayuti parties, the collapse of the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji in Malvan Monday has especially caused cracks between the Ajit Pawar-led NCP and the other two Mahayuti parties to widen.
“As a party, we can have a different stance on a particular issue despite being in a coalition government. This used to happen in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) even during Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s time,” Anand Paranjape, a spokesperson for the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, told ThePrint.
He added: “On the issue of the collapse of Shivaji Maharaj’s statue, the NCP thinks it should have been handled more sensitively, but this does not mean there are cracks within the Mahayuti. We will fight the assembly elections together.”
The incident sparked a massive political controversy across the state. It put the state government in a tight spot as the statue was erected just eight months ago.
A comment by Deepak Kesarkar, a state minister from the Shinde-led Shiv Sena who hails from the Sindhudurg district, about how good things will come out of the incident gave further ammunition to the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and raised discord within the Mahayuti. Kesarkar had meant that while the statue that fell was 35-foot tall, the government can now build a grander 100-foot tall statue at the same place.
In this backdrop, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar stumped his Mahayuti partners by giving out an open apology to the entire population of Maharashtra. Further, his party held silent protests over the incident across the state.
Maharashtra’s other Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was forced on the back foot after an altercation erupted between BJP MP Narayan Rane and his supporters, and leaders of the MVA, especially those from the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) at the site of the statue Wednesday.
Rane allegedly made some objectionable remarks during the clashes that were called out not just by leaders from the MVA, but also leaders from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP. Speaking in Nanded during Ajit Pawar’s Jan Salman Yatra, Sunil Tatkare, state president of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, said Rane’s comments were “improper” and the language that he used doesn’t suit a responsible leader.
Relations between the Ajit Pawar-led NCP and the Shinde-led Shiv Sena grew choppier Thursday when Tanaji Sawant, a minister from the latter party, publicly said he feels like “vomiting” after sitting in cabinet meetings with the NCP, which was traditionally a rival.
The remark drew sharp reactions from not just the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, but its rival, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP too.
Umesh Patil, a spokesperson of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, demanded that Sawant be ousted from the state cabinet. “Either remove Tanaji Sawant from the cabinet, or we should step out. The NCP is not desperate for power.”
From the other NCP, led by Ajit Pawar’s uncle Sharad Pawar, spokesperson Mahesh Tapase questioned how Ajit Pawar can bear such an insult. “In the NCP (before the split), Ajit Pawar had a strong image, there was an attraction about him and party workers would hustle to be able to sit next to Ajit dada. We have never seen this side of Ajit dada where he takes such insults in stride.”
There is one more striking resemblance behind the undivided Shiv Sena’s posturing then, and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP now: trying to keep all options open.
The undivided Shiv Sena kept its options open and, in 2019, used them by ditching the BJP and forming the MVA.
“Whether or not the Ajit Pawar-led NCP does the same, for now, showing that the party has options will go a long way in seat-sharing negotiations ahead of the state assembly polls,” political commentator Deshpande said.
(Edited by Radifah Kabir)
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