In 2023, he is keeping all options open and trying to establish his daughter Supriya Sule as the successor in national politics.
NEW DELHI: The traditional Indian sport, Kabaddi, is fast gaining popularity and has become a global sports discipline. Players from Maharashtra have played a very significant role in the progress and development of the sport since 1960. Sharad Pawar, founder and ex-president of Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India, paved ways for Kabaddi into the international arena by taking Indian Kabaddi teams to Japan in 1980. He keeps a keen eye on “Maharashtra Kabaddi”. In fact, Sharad Pawar started his career with the sports of Kabbadi and Kho Kho. A raider will be needed to chant “kabaddi” if the raider is in the opponent’s court. If a raider escapes from the hold of an anti and reaches the court safely, he shall not be pursued; however, if a raider touches the anti and reaches back to the court, then he or she may be pursued. The kabaddi terminology originated from the original Kai-pidi, two Tamil words that literally mean holding hands. While the origins are not that clear, it is speculated that it at least has more than 400 years of history going around. Another claim is that the name kabaddi originated in Punjab and was a corrupted version of “kaun bada”, a phrase often uttered in the circle style kabaddi where there was a one-on-one contest between two players after a touch was initiated. Anyway, I devoted one chapter to Sharad Pawar when I wrote a book in 1993 “Rao Ke Baad Kaun” (Who after Rao). I mentioned his style of politics like kabaddi—to touch or cross the middle line and return safely for the next round. Same politics he played all his life and continued for the future of his Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
Sharad Pawar, in his long political career, has navigated all kinds of twists and turns. Pawar was considered to be a protege of Yashwantrao Chavan. He has served as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra for four terms. Rajiv Gandhi was killed during the 1991 Lok Sabha election campaign, followed by Narasimha Rao, and N.D. Tiwari, Sharad Pawar’s name was also brought up. However, the Congress Parliamentary Party elected Narasimha Rao as Prime Minister and Sharad Pawar was appointed as the Defense Minister. In 1999, after elections were announced, the 12th Lok Sabha was dissolved and elections were scheduled, Sharad Pawar, Tariq Anwar, and P.A. Sangma who was the party’s prime ministerial candidate required the privilege of being from India and not any other within the country. Then, in June 1999, the group dissociated from Congress and created The Nationalist Congress Party. In the 1999 elections for the legislature 1999, the Congress as well as Nationalist Congress Party formed the government, as neither of the parties had an overwhelming majority. Sharad Pawar joined the UPA following 2004, the Lok Sabha elections. He was a part of the government of the coalition and was appointed minister of Agriculture. He announced that he would not run in the 2014 elections to provide an opportunity to the next generation of young leaders. In 2023, he is keeping all options open and trying to establish his daughter Supriya Sule as the successor for national politics. After three days of the drama of resignation, Pawar agreed to stay as party president and check any move by his nephew Ajit Pawar to join the ruling coalition.
Sharad Pawar is not alone to dream to be the successor of the Prime Minister or President of India and is also thinking to establish his son or daughter to control power in the party. Since the Nehru era, Morarji Desai, Jagjivan Ram, Y.B. Chavan, Chaudhari Charan Singh, Chandrashekhar, Pranab Mukherjee, Narisngh Rao, N.D. Tiwari, Arjun Singh, Madhavrao Scindia, and Rajesh Pilot were claimants for Prime ministership. But nobody imagined that H.D. Deve Gowda, I.K. Gujaral can become Prime Minister. In 1963, the American political journalist Putnam Welles Hangen, who had served as the Delhi correspondent of the National Broadcasting Corporation since 1959, wrote a book, “After Nehru, Who?”, in which he listed the names of likely successors, in descending order: Morarji Desai, Indira Gandhi Lal Bahadur Shastri, Y.B. Chavan, Jaya Prakash Narayan, S.K. Patil, General Brij Mohan Kaul, V.K. Krishna Menon. Nehru wanted to retire in 1958 when he turned 70. But he could not decide on a suitable successor. G.B. Pant and Maulana Azad were older than Nehru and in poor health. V.K. Krishna Menon and Morarji Desai were detested for their obnoxious personalities and had too many enemies.
Gulzari Lal Nanda and Lal Bahadur Shastri were too mild-mannered, without the drive required, and were little known outside India’s cow belt. Jagjivan Ram had allegations of corruption against him which was not acceptable to large parts of the nation. K. Kamaraj Nadar and Y.B. Chavan were regional leaders with no experience at the Centre. During Mrs Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi’s regimes, a number of senior leaders became ambitious, but always new successors emerged. So it’s not easy to fulfil the dream to be Prime Minister.
Sharad Pawar was also President of Kho Kho Associations & Federation. Kho Kho is a tag game of India. Its origins are as old as Mahabharata, with strategies and tactics likely derived from Mahabharata itself. On the 13th day of the war, the Kaurava Guru Dronacharya planned the unique tactics of Chakraviyu, a special military defensive strategy breached by the expert warrior Abhimanyu. He died as he had to fight alone against 7 other warriors and he received heavy casualties. His style of fighting reflects the concept of ring play: a defensive tactic in the game. This game helps in building physical fitness, strength, speed and stamina. It also develops qualities such as obedience, discipline, sportsmanship, and loyalty between team members. The game is interesting because the position of the players sitting is dynamic; one will never find the same sequence of players sitting in the same order as when the game starts. Pawar plays the same game in politics too as a captain.
He always keeps all options open. In his autobiography “On My Terms”, Pawar made it clear: “I do not believe in the cult of political untouchability which a number of Congressmen practice when dealing with non-Congress leaders on a personal level. I find any extreme ideological stance, either of the Left or the Right, singularly distasteful. I like to maintain good personal equations in both camps, Left and Right.” Pawar worked with farmers, labourers, workers and also with big industrialists. Therefore, he still tries his best to connect with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, Uddhav Bal Thakre, Akhilesh Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mamata Banerjee, Nitish Kumar, Sitaram Yetchuri, K. Chandrashekhar Rao and Stalin or Tata, Birla, Ambani, Adani. We have to still watch his next jump to turn Indian politics for himself and the next generation.
The writer is editorial director of ITV Network—India News and Dainik Aaj Samaj.