Decoding Sharad Pawar: Rahul Gandhi would do well to study this 'Congressman at heart'

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Chief Sharad Pawar (left) and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi. (Image: PTI/File)

The famous Bush Doctrine of “If you are not with us, you are against us” would aptly describe the political strategy of the Congress lately. It rests on the notion that Rahul Gandhi is the sole challenger to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the face of the largest opposition party – apart from also being the only leader who fronts up against the agendas of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ideological fountainhead, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

This strategy has a major flaw, though: It is exclusionary. Rahul Gandhi’s unwavering convictions had become an issue within the Congress post the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, when he accused party veterans of not toeing his line on the “Chowkidar Chor Hai” slogan coined by him. This time around, the “Modani” jibe, directed at the PM for his alleged association with businessman Gautam Adani, could similarly become a sticking point.

“Congressman At Heart”

On top of that, Sharad Pawar’s googly backing Gautam Adani and pooh-poohing a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Adani Group following the Hindenburg report came as a jolt to the effort to unite opposition parties. Since then there have been veiled suggestions of Pawar selling out to the BJP.

Once dubbed “Bhishma Pitamah” for cobbling the Maha Vikas Aghadi, bringing the ideologically-incompatible Congress and Shiv Sena along with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in an alliance, it is tough to decode Pawar.

In his autobiography titled “On My Terms”, Pawar describes himself as a “Congressman at heart”. Pawar always strode the middle path and pursued pragmatic politics – for which he credits his stint in the Congress.

He disavows “the cult of political untouchability” as he dubs it, on dealing with politicians across the aisle, making him the most networked politician of all. And he counts many industrialists among his friends.

Mastery Over Realpolitik

Pawar is more of a realist, than an idealist or a cynic.

For him politics is the art of the possible, and his ingenuity in stitching unlikely coalitions was evident as far back as 1978, when he formed the Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) government with his splinter faction of Congress (S), Janata Party (which included the Jana Sangh), Peasants and Workers Party of India, Maharashtra Socialist Congress, Republican Party of India, Communist Party of India-Marxist, Muslim League et al.

The MVA, in comparison, would have been a cakewalk.

Only recently did Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis insinuate that Pawar was in the know of his backchannel talks with Ajit Pawar which led to the formation of a short-lived BJP-NCP government in 2019. However, according to those close to “Pawar Saheb”, as he is referred to, it was the old fox’s way of getting the President’s Rule lifted, thereby ensuring that the MVA could stake its claim.

Epic 2019 Poll Fight

There is a larger context to this: It was in the run-up to the 2019 Maharashtra election that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) booked Pawar for money laundering in the Cooperative Bank case, after the BJP attracted a string of defectors from the NCP.

Assuming it could go for the kill, Union Home Minister Amit Shah also went on to target Pawar personally in his campaign. A riled Pawar took an uncharacteristic swipe at Shah and turned the tables on the ED to ride a sympathy wave in the 2019 assembly elections.

Denying the BJP an opportunity to form a government then meant something to him. This was not the situation in 2014 when Pawar lent a helping hand to the BJP till the Shiv Sena eventually came around.

Pawar’s Pragmatism

As the maxim goes, there are no permanent friends and foes in politics, and Pawar knows that all too well. Make no mistake, Pawar is positively inclined towards Congress, but he is unsure whether the Gandhi scion possesses the will and the wile to trump the Modi-led BJP at this juncture.

Nor does he believe that he has a bounden duty to fight for the installation of a secular government, although he would be happy to help in case there is an opening. This is not to say that he would defect to the BJP’s side at the first opportunity, but he has to protect his own interests and the NCP’s future. Pawar is the quintessential transactional politician with his finger in multiple pies.

The NCP is in coalition with the Left in Kerala, BJP in Nagaland, and the Congress, pretty much everywhere else. He was realistic about not harbouring prime ministerial ambitions in 2014, when he stated that it wasn’t something he could fancy as the leader of a small party.

Personal Over Political

Pawar has always kept personal equations separate from political realities. In 2016, PM Modi showered praises on Pawar for “hand-holding” him as Gujarat CM, but Pawar had a similar equation with the Late Chimanbhai Patel as well, which he recollected in his autobiography. Pawar’s hobnobbing with industrialists and businessmen have always been a matter of speculation, but he rationalises it by way of serving the interests of his constituents and state.

For Pawar to back Adani, with whom his friendship goes back many decades – as recounted in his autobiography – wouldn’t have required him to think twice. It is for the Congress and those propagating ideological purity to understand that politics is not as black and white as they imagine.

And when you fight an election which is a function of popular vote, you need to build bridges and win friends rather than alienate them. For, every vote counts.

Anand Kochukudy is a Kerala-based journalist and columnist. Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication.