Mumbai: It is a known fact across Baramati that if ‘dada’ (elder brother) is unable to fulfil a prior commitment, honour an invitation, or lend an ear to the problems of his electorate, ‘vahini’ (sister-in-law) steps in for him. Dada, in this case, is Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA from Baramati Ajit Pawar, and vahini is his wife Sunetra, keeper not just of the household, but also his political empire.
In the run-up to every major election, Sunetra embarks on campaigning in and around the hamlets in Baramati in Maharashtra’s Pune district, meeting people and giving speeches, while husband Ajit Pawar looks after the party’s larger election strategy, Baramati residents familiar with the power couple tell ThePrint.
With the Lok Sabha elections right around the corner, Sunetra has hit the campaign trail once again. But this time around, the stakes are higher — she is not seeking votes for husband Ajit Pawar, but for herself.
In the rather acerbic fight playing out in the open between two factions of the NCP, one led by uncle Sharad Pawar and the other by nephew Ajit, a victory in the Pawar family turf of Baramati would serve as the ultimate endorsement of which faction is the ‘real NCP’.
Though seat-sharing talks are still underway between the ruling Mahayuti alliance, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP has already declared its candidate for the battle of Baramati — Sunetra, who knows the constituency like the back of her hand and has built a repository of goodwill in parts of Baramati with her social work.
“Sunetra Pawar never voiced any political ambition for so many years, but she was always socially very active in Baramati. She is a known figure there. A lot of times, in Ajit Pawar’s absence, she has taken charge, taking care of people’s issues,” political commentator Pratap Asbe told ThePrint.
If all goes according to plan, Sunetra will take on husband Ajit Pawar’s cousin Supriya Sule, who has represented Baramati in the Lok Sabha since 2009 and has become a familiar face in the constituency. Sule, besides Ajit Pawar, is also seen as the foremost claimant to her father and NCP founder Sharad Pawar’s political legacy.
“Sharad Pawar’s popularity in Baramati is immense and till the time he is around, Supriya Sule will also benefit from his goodwill. But truth be told, despite Sunetra Pawar being a debutante, Supriya Sule will have to put up a tough fight,” Asbe added.
Voters in Baramati had in 1991 elected Ajit Pawar to the Lok Sabha, who resigned the same year to make way for his uncle Sharad Pawar to contest the bypoll. Since then, barring a two-year period between 1994 and 1996, the Pawar family has always represented Baramati in Parliament. The Baramati Lok Sabha constituency comprises six assembly segments: Daund, Indapur, Baramati, Purandar, Bhor, Khadakwasla.
While Sunetra is a known face and name across this belt, her name is associated only with her social work and her deputy chief minister husband’s political standing.
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Unwilling politician from two dynasties
Just last year, Sunetra had in an interview to Marathi TV channel ABP Majha said she never aspired to be in politics and that it was not her field. “People insist, but I haven’t ever given it a thought. I have never really been interested in it,” a soft-spoken Sunetra, wearing a pale pink saree, said.
Her reluctance to enter electoral politics perhaps stemmed from the fact that she comes from not one, but two legacy political dynasties who have at times been at odds with one another.
Sunetra is the sister of Padamsinh Patil, who was once considered among Sharad Pawar’s closest aides. In fact, it was the closeness between Patil and senior Pawar that led to Sunetra tying the knot with Ajit Pawar in an arranged marriage in the 1980s. This was before Ajit Pawar, now a five-time deputy chief minister, had made his political debut.
However, relations between senior Pawar and Patil soured owing to allegations of corruption against the latter related to the Osmanabad District Central Co-operative Bank. What strained ties further was Patil’s arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2009 in connection with the murder of Congress leader Pavanraje Nimbalkar and his driver three years earlier. The NCP suspended Patil from the party following his arrest.
Ahead of the 2019 assembly elections, Patil’s son, Ranajagjitsinh Patil, joined the BJP and is now an MLA from the Tuljapur assembly constituency in their home district of Dharashiv.
This was perhaps the only time journalists covering Maharashtra politics remember the usually tactful and calm Sharad Pawar losing his cool. At a press conference in Ahmednagar, when he was quizzed about a string of NCP leaders defecting, one journalist asked him about Patil, calling him a ‘relative’. Pawar got visibly peeved at the use of the word, and shot back: “What are you saying about a relative? Is there any link between relatives and politics? If you are going to speak like this I don’t want to talk.”
While Sunetra may have chosen not to get caught in the crosshairs between her brother and uncle-in-law by staying out of active politics, she is now about to be a character in an equally tense political feud — a Pawar vs Pawar slugfest over control of the family bastion, which would expose the vertical split not just within the NCP, but also its first family.
Nitin Birmal, an associate professor at Pune’s Dr Ambedkar College of Arts & Commerce, told ThePrint that neither did Sunetra Pawar openly say anything about the feud with Padamsinh Patil nor did it weigh on Ajit Pawar’s relations with the rest of the family.
According to him, the cracks within the Pawar family formed only after Ajit Pawar’s son Parth’s 2019 Lok Sabha defeat. Parth Pawar created history that year by earning the distinction of being the first member of the Pawar family to lose an election.
“Soon after Parth’s defeat, Sharad Pawar started promoting his other grand-nephew, Rohit Pawar, who also won the 2019 assembly elections from the Karjat Jamkhed constituency. That is when ties within the family started deteriorating,” Birmal said.
Baramati’s daughter-in-law
Vidyadhar Kate, a former sarpanch of Katewadi village in Baramati, recalls how 24 years ago, “Sunetra vahini” used to come to his village as early as 7 am, take a broom in her hand and start cleaning the village premises.
“She had chosen Katewadi as her first social welfare project. She wanted to implement ‘Nirmal Gram Abhiyan’ here — to build toilets, ensure cleanliness, make the village sustainable and open-defecation free. Initially, everyone was skeptical. The women were especially hesitant to come out and participate. So, she decided to lead by example,” said Kate, who has been closely associated with Sunetra’s social work.
According to Kate, the village received at least five awards from the central government in the early 2000s in recognition of the developmental work done there.
Kate and those who have worked with Sunetra say Katewadi was in some ways the pilot for her social welfare work. Last week, Sunetra chose this particular village to launch her Lok Sabha campaign without saying so.
“Initially everyone looked at me as a daughter-in-law from the Pawar family and wondered how long I would last. But then people saw my work and my determination, and supported me… You have been showering love on dada for many years now. He is anyway yours. But you gave me your life though I was your daughter-in-law. And for it to mean something, we will definitely put in competitive efforts,” she said at the function last week.
“You all have given me a lot of love. I hope that you will give me this opportunity,” she added.
In 2010, Sunetra founded an NGO called Environmental Forum of India to promote sustainable development. The NGO has over the years undertaken projects ranging from tree plantation drives to clean-up of rivers and other water bodies, rewarding conservancy workers, and organising science fairs and eye camps in villages across Baramati.
Besides, Sunetra is also chairperson of Baramati Hi-Tech Textile Park, an unlisted public company which has created employment for the women of Baramati in large numbers.
“Sunetra vahini has given a voice to the women of our village. She takes them along for her projects, and later encourages them to stand up before a crowd and talk about the work they did. Despite being from two strong political families, she has no airs. She will share our meals, have tea with us,” said Kate.
While Katewadi may swear by ‘dada’ and ‘vahini’, Sunetra’s impact is not evenly spread across Baramati and at many places, she will have to rely solely on her husband’s popularity.
For instance, at Supe, over 40 km from Baramati, Anil Hirave, the husband of a former sarpanch, said the village has always seen more of ‘dada’ and ‘tai’ (Supriya Sule) than ‘vahini.’
Supe is home to an arts, science and commerce college of Vidya Pratisthan, a Baramati-based educational charitable trust backed by Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar. The website lists Ajit Pawar, Sule as well as Sunetra as trustees.
“Sunetra vahini comes for programmes of the institution. She doesn’t necessarily interact with the villagers on such visits. She hardly knows any of us. I had sent her some pictures of a function she had attended at our village a year ago on WhatsApp. Till date there has been no reply. She visits about once in six months,” said Hirave.
Ajit Pawar and Supriya Sule, on the other hand, being public representatives, visit more frequently and are in the village, meeting people every two months.
“Ajit dada has taken care of all our developmental works that require funds from the state. Supriya tai helps out with small personal issues such as hospital aid for someone, a medical college admission for someone else. The split between the Pawars has put our entire village in a state of confusion. One can never tell how people might vote, but the consensus right now seems to be that they will support Supriya tai for the Lok Sabha and Ajit dada for the assembly,” he added.
Perhaps, at some level, even Sunetra is aware that her fame in Baramati is linked to her own work only in a few pockets, and for the rest she is dependent mainly on her husband’s political standing.
With little time left for the Lok Sabha polls, she is meeting key leaders from across Baramati in a bid to aggregate support. These include veteran Congress leader Anantrao Thopte and his MLA son Sangram Thopte from Bhor, and BJP MLA Rahul Kul from Daund.
“Sunetra Pawar’s political foray was a happenstance as a result of the split within the party. It is not as if the idea was in the works for a year or two for her to start building a base on the ground accordingly. She has to fight on Ajit Pawar’s work,” said Birmal.
Her rival sees this weakness and is hoping to build on it.
Speaking at a rally in the constituency last month, Sule said she doesn’t send her husband Sadanand Sule to make speeches on her behalf.
“Who is going to go to Parliament? Am I going to go or my husband is going to go? Any husband keen on going to Parliament — my husband doesn’t go — but any husband wanting to go to Parliament should sit in the canteen holding his wife’s purse,” Sule said.
Adding, “So do you want an MP who speaks in Parliament or a husband who speaks here?”
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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