If there’s an Olympic event for political gymnastics, NCP-SCP chief Sharad Pawar would undoubtedly bring home a gold medal. He’d probably invent a new category if not conferred in any category just to win it. If there’s one lesson to be learned from his illustrious career, it’s this: never let loyalty, ideology, or principles get in the way of grabbing power. Throughout his over six-decade-long career, the NCP (SCP) chief has consistently showcased his signature political move—backstabbing—earning and retaining his title as the “master of political maneuvers.”
Sharad Pawar’s political journey, which began in 1958 with the Youth Congress is a tale of remarkable agility. By 1962, just four years later, he had climbed the ranks to become the Pune district Youth Congress president. His first electoral victory came in 1967 when he won the Assembly election from his home turf, Baramati, a constituency that has remained his bastion ever since. Whether in the state legislature or Parliament, Pawar has been a permanent fixture in Indian politics for decades.
In 1978, at the age of 38, he achieved a significant milestone—becoming the youngest Chief Minister of Maharashtra. But this was no ordinary ascent. The very Congress party that had nurtured his early career was soon to be betrayed when Pawar turned back from Chief Minister Vasantdada Patil, leading to the fall of the government. He didn’t hesitate to gather a coalition of leftists, socialists, communists, and the Janata Party and rebels to crown himself the Chief Minister. It marked the beginning of his unparalleled career in political maneuvering, and his journey of opportunistic alliances, ideological flexibility, and relentless power-seeking.
In 1985, Pawar decided to lead the BJP-supported Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) against Congress. It was a brilliant move for turning enemies into friends. By 1986, Pawar had perfected his game. Publicly, he declared that he would rather go from ashes to the Himalayas than rejoin Congress. Whereas privately, he was making deals with Rajiv Gandhi and re-entered Congress with a grin, leaving his loyalists bewildered. In 1999, Pawar’s “candid critic” of Sonia Gandhi’s “foreign origins,” once again displayed a mass show of his “loyalty,” leading him to break away from Congress and form the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). However, Pawar made a U-turn and forged alliance with Congress within months to secure support in Maharashtra and later in 2004, he eagerly aligned with the party to share power at the Centre.
Pawar’s pièce de résistance came in 2014. With the Maharashtra Assembly elections looming, he did what he does best: he withdrew support from Congress, once again delivering a stinging slap to the Chief Minister. But no Sharad Pawar story would be complete without the grand finale of 2019. The electorate pushed the ‘national party’ to third place in Maharashtra. Undeterred from his earlier statement of never allying with the narrow-minded, Hindutva-oriented, communalShiv Sena, naturally, within weeks, he joined hands with them, catapulting himself into power yet again. His ability to pivot from one ideology to another is awe-inspiring—if only flexibility were an Olympic event!
Sharad Pawar, the seasoned strategist of Indian politics, might have finally gotten a taste of his own medicine on July 2, 2023, when his nephew, Ajit Pawar, crossed over to the BJP camp. In a dramatic twist, Ajit was sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, taking eight other NCP members with him. This move dealt a significant blow to the man hailed as the “Chanakya of Indian Politics,” as Ajit Pawar not only claimed control of the “real NCP” but also took away the party’s iconic ‘clock’ symbol.
Since then, the future of the NCP in Maharashtra politics has been anything but stable, with new twists and turns emerging almost daily. With the next Assembly elections around the corner, all eyes are now on the 83-year-old Sharad Pawar. Can he pull off yet another political masterstroke, or will this be the end of his legendary acrobatics?
After all, Pawar is the man who has made betrayal a strategy and turned hypocrisy into an art form. His political game is simple: there’s only one rule, and that is to win. As the countdown to the elections begins, Maharashtra waits to see what his next move will be.
