Mumbai: In 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi while speaking in Baramati, the home turf of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, showered praises on Pawar, saying the country needed to utilise the veteran leader’s political experience of over five decades.
Last week, in two successive rallies in Wardha and Gondia, Modi singled out Pawar for strong criticism, marking him as his main political rival in Maharashtra in these Lok Sabha elections.
It is in between the extreme praise of 2015 and the extreme criticism of 2019 that the dynamics of Modi’s bittersweet relationship with Pawar lie. The bond has swung between hot and cold with changing poll seasons.
“The two leaders were basically on good terms with each other, but there is now a huge communication gap. Part of it is due to political compulsions,” said an NCP functionary who did not wish to be named. “There was a time when Pawar saheb would pick up the phone and directly talk to the PM about any issue he wanted to raise. Or Modiji would often call Pawar saheb for his thoughts on something.”
“Now there’s a vacuum,” he added.
From friend to foe
The duo warmed up to each other in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, fought the polls as bitter enemies and showed some bonhomie again post the polls. With the Lok Sabha elections drawing closer, Modi is back to throwing barbs at Pawar, while the latter is fending them off.
Last week, speaking at a campaign rally in Wardha, Modi said Pawar was losing his grip on the NCP due to tiffs within the Pawar family. At another rally in Gondia, the prime minister said he would like to ask Pawar, who is a former defence minister, whether he is really happy with the Congress’ manifesto, which Modi said will weaken the morale of the forces.
The PM also said that NCP leaders are worried about what a certain prisoner in Tihar Jail might blurt out some information without elaborating on what that is.
Pawar retorted sharply. In his rallies and interviews since Modi’s jibe, Pawar said political leaders should refrain from personal attacks. Speaking to party workers in Daund in the Pune district Sunday, Pawar said, “Me majha bot ata konala dharu det nahi. Dusra koni Modi tayar hou naye mhanun me hi kalji ghetoy (I don’t let anyone hold my finger anymore. I am being cautious so that another Modi is not created).”
The NCP chief was referring to Modi’s 2016 remarks when the PM said Pawar hand-held him in his early days in politics. Pawar returned the favour by talking about how Modi is constantly travelling and this shows his commitment to the country.
A year earlier in 2015, Modi shared the stage with Pawar at the foundation stone laying ceremony for a vegetable production centre at Baramati. He praised Pawar as a repository of experience and said it was his responsibility to reach out to the NCP chief from time to time for advice on certain issues. This was barely four months after the PM had campaigned against the NCP in the very same town for the state assembly polls asking the people of Baramati to free themselves from the Pawar rule.
Pawar too had raised several eyebrows when after the 2014 Maharashtra assembly election, he offered the NCP’s outside support to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to form the state government.
The equation now is completely different. “When Pawar quit the Congress, he had issues with the party’s leadership. Years later, some part of that distress remained and Modi tried to tap into it and have Pawar on his side,” said Pratap Asbe, a political analyst. “As a politician, Pawar has good relations with almost everyone, including Modi.”
“But now the situation is such that he has strongly allied with the Congress and has been trying to rally all opposition parties,” he added.
Also read: Sharad Pawar steps in, Congress leaders step up as alliance with AAP back on the table
The Modi-Pawar dynamic
The Modi-Pawar dynamic, is in part, attributed to Pawar’s attitude to his political rivals.
“A number of prime ministers have visited Baramati in the past and spoken highly of Pawar saheb,” said an NCP leader. “He has had very good relations with several BJP leaders too, including former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee.”
“But Modi’s praise for him stood out as controversial and put the BJP, especially at the state level, in an awkward situation,” he added.
It is said that state BJP leaders, especially Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, were unsettled with the murmurs of BJP’s growing proximity to the NCP, as the party had won the 2014 state assembly election on an anti-corruption plank, particularly targeting senior NCP leaders.
To eliminate any perception of the BJP joining forces with the NCP, Fadnavis kept stressing that Shiv Sena was the party’s natural ally and made every effort to clinch a pre-poll deal with the party.
Meanwhile, Pawar, who has always been known to have prime ministerial ambitions, gradually started making efforts to be the conductor of opposition unity against the BJP. In a recent interview to Marathi daily Loksatta, Pawar said Modi is targeting him because he attempted to unite all opposition parties.
Political analyst Prakash Bal, however, said too much has been read into the Modi-Pawar relation. “There is no relationship and their leadership styles are different. Sharad Pawar shares a good dynamic with everyone whether in the government or not,” Bal said. “He is a team player while Modi is a loner. Modi believes he knows everything and does what he wants.”
Bal said that in one of his interviews Pawar had explained that he used to write letters, make calls and have meetings with the PM on various development-related issues because that is the expectation from politicians.
“The NCP is stronger than the Congress in certain parts of Maharashtra,” Bal said. “That is why now Modi is choosing to target Pawar. It’s political convenience.”
Also read: After 50 years in politics, Sharad Pawar hangs up his boots — for now
After fifty years in politics and many friendships across party lines, Shri Sharad Pawar perhaps realises that his salad days have always been with the Congress. When Shri Sreenivasan Jain asked Ms Supriya Sule if she could visualise Shri Rahul Gandhi as Prime Minister, she reacted spontaneously, Of course, spoke gushingly about the Congress Manifesto. Father was noticeably taciturn.