Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA Rohit Pawar speaks about nepotism in politics, the need to challenge the BJP's version of Hindutva and his relationship with his grand-uncle Sharad Pawar at the Town Hall hosted by The Indian Express. Excerpts from the interview: This is your first term as an MLA and so many things are happening in the state. How has been the journey so far as a legislator? Rohit Pawar: I would give all the credit to the people of Karjat-Jamkhed who ensured my victory. I am not very happy about the way things are going inside the Assembly. In three years, we saw the time when we were in power and now in opposition. I thought in the Vidhan Sabha, constructive policy discussion would happen. Around 60% of the population comprises of the youth. But no one talks about them. Due to coronavirus and restrictions, we didn’t even get the time to speak inside the House. Isn’t NCP the biggest beneficiary after Shiv Sena’s split as it is now the strongest regional party in Maharashtra? NCP as a party doesn't look at this as an opportunity. Every party has its own strategy to grow. But if you ask me if we are happy with what has happened, the answer is no, we are not happy. Because this leads to a very dangerous era of politics wherein we don’t talk about development, policies; we only talk about how to come to power at any cost, whether it is money or through an agency to pressure someone. Do you think present politics is full of nepotism and fuelled by contractors? I am from the Pawar family, but I strongly believe that nepotism is bad. A person will win once. If that person has no capacity, he will not return to the constituency. When my time came to contest for the MLA seat, my grandfather (Sharad Pawar) said if you want to become the MLA just once then go for an easy constituency but if you want to stay in politics for a long time, then go for a constituency where you can work hard, do something and show something to the world. Then I went to Karjat-Jamkhed and contested against a cabinet minister. Do you think the Sena top brass failed to stop the coup? Yes, something should have been done. But I don't know what those 40 MLAs had in mind. They (Sena) thought they will come back. But I think the plan (to rebel) was not a month or two old, it was one-and-a-half years old. This was the general perception. Everyone had a feeling that something was happening, but we thought may be 10 to 11 (MLAs) will leave, not these many. When he (Uddhav) was sick, I did not meet him, otherwise I used to meet him, Aaditya and others too. There used to be meetings. Recently, when I went to meet a minister, 20 MLAs were outside the office. After seeing the present situation, I feel the previous situation was better. The Sena rebel MLAs blamed NCP for the rebellion, saying the party had the upper hand in the government and why the NCP leadership did not intervene to stop the rebellion? Who else will they blame? They had to blame someone so they blamed us as we are the no. 2 party in their constituency. You can think about your organisation, but how much can you intervene in another organisation’s work? Their way of thinking, the way they work, their strategy is very different from ours. There were so many other reasons too, including that of action by the ED (Enforcement Directorate). There was also an ED probe against you and Pawar family members. other NCP leaders. Was there pressure on you as well? I have done no wrong so I am ready for any probe. Whenever they do take action, it will be an injustice but I am prepared to face it. We, Pawars, are definitely protected by a very high power, the people’s power. Has the politics of the BJP forced other political parties to embrace Hindutva as well? You recently tweeted Jai Shri Ram. What was the reason for that? I am setting my own agenda. Jai Shri Ram is not a monopoly of someone. I am taking forward the Hindu culture which is thousands of years old. Hindutva is just a 50-60-year-old concept. The basic concept of Hindu Sanskriti is to work for the betterment of others. Hindutva is different. I installed the world's highest saffron flag in my constituency. I didn't publicise it because I didn't want to do politics out of it. If you see, Sharad Pawar saheb is the one who has given funds for developments of many temples in the state, be it Siddhivinayak of Mumbai, Vitthal Mandir of Pandharpur or Jyotiba of Kolhapur. But he never made a public display of it. The style of politics changes. I am just telling the people who I am and it (Hindu culture) is not BJP's only. Now, I want to talk about the real issues with them (BJP). What are you doing for the youth. (about) malnutrition, education. What I am saying is everyone has a different style of functioning. What have you learnt from Sharad Pawar? Age does not matter, hard work does and how to maintain relationships. When he is faced with a difficult time, he is calm. His calmness is because he is thinking about strategy and problem solving. Also, the survival and fighting spirit he has. He likes challenges, and his performance level goes up if anyone challenges him. It is in our nature to help everyone who comes to us, and get their work done. Other party leaders only respond to selected audiences and their requests. Others plot, we work for the people. There were also talk about a sense of unease between you and Ajit Pawar. How are your relations with Ajit Pawar? The Zilla Parishad ticket was given to me by Ajit dada, he gave me the MLA ticket, even my marriage was finalised by him. The second thing is that when you want to grow, your competition cannot be within. We don’t waste time fighting within the family. Our targets are different. For Supriyatai, it is Lok Sabha, for dada it is state. I have a plan to continue where I am for now. But opponents want our family to break us, like the Shiv Sena broke into two groups. Opponents think that the NCP will break if there is in-fighting within the Pawar family. After the Sena, the next target could be us. Do you think a leader other than Pawar can have CM aspirations in the NCP? Pawar saheb is the NCP’s face and people elect NCP MLAs based on that. We work democratically when elected while the BJP calls itself a democratic party but they work only to disturb the democracy. It’s a perception battle so there needs to be a change in the way the perception of people is being built. We need to make a more structured approach on social media towards countering trolls. For a political party, an opinion should be consolidated and everyone should be speaking in one voice.
