On Wednesday when Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar decided to land in Baramati around 8.45 am, the first thing he wanted to do was to meet his mother at their Katewadi home and then proceed to campaign for party candidates contesting the Zilla Parishad elections.
“I received a call from Ajitdada around 7 in the morning. He asked me to come to the airport as he wanted to hand over some papers relating to the elections. He told me that he would be landing at 8.45 am and would first proceed to Katewadi to meet his mother. After that he said he would campaigning at four places till 6 pm,” NCP leader Kiran Gujar, whose association with the Pawar family goes back four decades, said.
Whenever Ajit Pawar arrived in Baramati, he would go to his Katewadi home and spend half an hour with his mother. “Even when he was extremely busy, he used to make it a point to meet his mother. If it was not possible for him to meet her for half an hour, then he would at least be with her for five minutes. On days when he was not busy, he would meet his mother, spend time with her and then visit their farm located nearby,” said Gujar.
After Ajit Pawar called him in the morning, Gujar wasted no time in reaching the airport with a couple of party workers and Ajit Pawar’s staff. They had stationed themselves at one end of the runway. “At 8.45 am, we spotted the plane. It took one round during which it was flying with great speed. In the second round, we thought its speed would reduce before landing. However, it flew in top speed and suddenly took two tumbled in the air and then came down to the ground. It did not land on the landing strip,” he said.
Gujar said they all quickly jumped into their vehicle and went to the spot. “We saw thick smoke emitting from the plane amid fire. And then there was the first blast. One body was flung out of the plane. I was just a few metres away. I immediately recognised Ajitdada’s body… Though his body was in a mangled state, it did not take time for me to recognise him because I have known him from close quarters. For more than four decades,” he said.
Gujar said there were election related papers all around Ajit Pawar’s body. “The file was seen close to the chair. The election related papers were lying close to his body… It was all over in three minutes. There was smoke, fire and blasts. The body was lying before me, but my mind was not ready to accept that our leader was no more,” said Gujar who had been handling all the party work in Baramati and implementing the directives of Ajit Pawar.
As for Ajit Pawar’s ambition of becoming chief minister, Gujar said, “It is true that Ajit Pawar wanted to become chief minister. But that was because he wanted to show the people what he can do for them, for the state of Maharashtra. He would always say that as MLA, as Minister and Deputy Chief Minister, he had proved his mettle. And now he should get an opportunity to put in his best efforts for the people. Ajitdada did not want anything for himself. He was a giver and he wanted to do good for the people of Maharashtra.”
Meanwhile, Ajit Pawar’s ashes were immersed at the confluence of Nira and Karha rivers in Baramati on Friday. His sons Parth and Jay collected the ashes from the funeral site at Vidya Pratishthan ground in Baramati city today, a day after the funera. Seated in small boat, the Pawar family members then immersed the ashes in Nira-Karha confluence.
After Ajit Pawar’s ashes were immersed, in an emotional social media post, nephew and MLA Rohit Pawar on Friday said his uncle’s death has numbed his mind and frozen his heart.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that a time would come to collect the ashes of Ajitdada from the very place where he nurtured a garden of development. However, destiny had other ideas…,” he wrote.
Rohit Pawar said since the news of Ajit’s passing, his mind has gone numb. “My heart is frozen like ice. The storm of thoughts—what happened, how, and why—just won’t stop. Every conversation we had, every discussion, especially the emotional talks in these last few days, keeps ringing in my ears like a tape recorder on loop. It feels as if you are speaking to me in an invisible form.”
The MLA said they were all truly in awe of Ajit Pawar’s style of working. “His firm grip on administration, his strong command over politics, and his straightforward nature. He never played political games; he said ‘yes’ to yes and ‘no’ to no, always speaking the truth.”
“But what happened so suddenly? How can a man like a mountain—who was steering the cart of Maharashtra just two days ago, helping hundreds of people daily, obsessed with development from dawn till dusk, and running at the speed of wind for the common man—be gone in a single moment? My mind is shattered by this question. They say some questions have no answers,” he said.
Rohit Pawar said he had a complaint against Ajitdada. “For two days, Maharashtra has been at a standstill. The flood of tears in everyone’s eyes does not recede. The sound of sobbing and the cries of grief pierce the heart. Dada, why didn’t you worry about the streams of sorrow you would leave behind? Usually, if someone made even a small mistake, Ajitdada would scold them in front of everyone—then why didn’t he rebuke destiny in that same commanding voice? When so much of Maharashtra’s work is still pending, how did destiny dare to come without an appointment?”
“Today, while collecting his ashes, Rohit Pawar, said he felt that like a Phoenix, Ajitdada, would suddenly rise from the ashes in his usual style and say to us in his signature deep voice: “Hey you fools, why are you shedding tears? I was just playing a prank on you! I was checking your readiness to face a crisis, like a mock drill. Now get up, get to work… we have so much to do for Maharashtra and its common people. Come on, don’t be late.”
Ajit Pawar and his mother (left); The Pawar family during immersion of Ajit Pawar's ashes at the confluence of Nira and Karha rivers in Baramati. (Express photos) 
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