'Take all castes and religions along with us': NCP releases Ajit Pawar’s last phone call audio

The audio captures Pawar emphasising unity and inclusivity, with repeated references to carrying all religions and castes together in political decision-making.

• NCP released Ajit Pawar's final call before his fatal Baramati plane crash.
• Ajit Pawar emphasized unity and inclusivity for all castes and religions in politics.
• Crash killed Ajit Pawar, his security officer, attendant, and two crew members

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The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), on Wednesday, released the audio recording of Ajit Pawar’s last phone conversation, made minutes before the senior leader died in a plane crash near Baramati last week.

Ajit Pawar, 66, had spoken to party member and relative Shrijeet Pawar shortly before departing from Mumbai for Baramati on January 28. The aircraft later crashed while attempting to land at Baramati airport.

The audio captures Pawar emphasising unity and inclusivity, with repeated references to carrying all religions and castes together in political decision-making.

Describing the circumstances of the call, Shrijeet Pawar said he had earlier sent Ajit Pawar a message on a specific issue. Pawar, fondly known as “dada” in Maharashtra politics, returned the call as soon as his phone regained network coverage during the flight.

“Ajit Dada and I are from the same village. I had sent him a message regarding a certain matter. He called me as soon as he got network coverage. He said that we are taking all castes and religions along with us,” Shrijeet Pawar said.

The party said the recording was released to ensure Pawar’s message reached a wider audience. “This is an attempt to bring this audio call recording to everyone’s attention so that Maharashtra knows what Ajit Dada’s thoughts were until his last breath,” Shrijeet Pawar said.

The audio features the following exchange between the two leaders:

Ajit Pawar: “We also take all castes and religions along with us.”

Shrijeet Pawar: “No, Dada, I just said what I felt.”

Ajit Pawar: “The Mali community has been given representation in the Zilla Parishad from the Supe group. We have tried to give justice to everyone.”

Shrijeet Pawar: “Yes, Dada, take whatever decision you think is right.”

Party functionaries in Baramati said the call was made barely 10 minutes before the crash. Shrijeet Pawar said Ajit Pawar had called to explain his decisions on candidate selection for the Zilla Parishad polls.

“The call recording shows Ajit Dada’s thinking of taking every community along without any discrimination,” Shrijeet Pawar said. “I messaged him when he was in the aircraft and I think when his phone got a range, he called me to explain his decision only 10 minutes before the crash,” he added.

Ajit Pawar had taken off around 8 am from Mumbai in a Learjet 45 operated by Delhi-based company VSR Ventures. He was scheduled to address four election rallies in Baramati ahead of the local body polls. The aircraft crashed around 8.45 am during a second landing attempt at Baramati airport.

Besides Pawar, the crash killed his personal security officer, an attendant, and the two cockpit crew, pilot-in-command Sumit Kapur and first officer Shambhavi Pathak.