Opinion Maharashtra’s political vacuum, NCP drama is an opportunity for Supriya Sule
Can she fight for her father’s honour, for the state’s pride, and for a different national politics, or will she get dragged down by the diminished imaginations that prevail?
NCP leader Ajit Pawar was sworn in as the Deputy CM of Maharashtra. (Express photo by Ganesh Shirsekar) It should be seen as a moment of liberation. The old men have gone and have taken with them their petty egos and their petty politics. In one brilliant stroke, the NCP has gifted the BJP-SS (Shinde) camp all the problems that had plagued it these many years. This NCP export of little men, who see politics only in terms of power, caste, faction, and personal interest, has opened up a rare opportunity. A new politics can now emerge, one that can speak of Marathi pride and Maharashtra first. This moment will not last long. Will Supriya Sule seize it?
Indira Gandhi faced such a moment in 1969 when another group of old men challenged her for the leadership of the Congress party. She jettisoned them and formed the Congress (R) which later became Congress (I). They were left with the Congress (O), soon reduced to a rump that eventually merged with the Janata Party. Indira won the people’s trust. The results of the 1971 general election showed it when she won 352 seats out of a total of 518. Sule would do well to revisit the history of the Congress split of 1969.
There are at least three lessons. The first is for her to realise that she is freed of the baggage and now has an open field, ready to be mobilised. It is just she and them, the leader in waiting and the people waiting, one seeking their support, the other offering their trust. To build this support and trust, a new message will have to be crafted, perhaps around Marathi pride and about restoring Maharashtra’s place as the primary FDI destination.
The people, whether in Goa or Manipur or Karnataka, are fed up with being treated like fools who have to live with defections. They resent that the leaders assume that they have no opinion on political matters, on the type of government, and on who should govern them. The people have opinions. A study of the recent Karnataka elections will offer a clue. Because the system normally does not allow the people to punish defectors, due to the complexities of the first-past-the-post system, they have to suffer the ignominy of defection and the institutional inability of Speaker, Governor, President and Court to stop it. The politics of integrity loses.
But even as it loses, it remains a deep desire among the people. They wait for a leader who will give them something different. Indira Gandhi in 1969 convinced the people that she was that “different” person. She gave a new slogan “garibi hatao”, nationalised banks and, in a socialist frenzy, abolished privy purses to make good her promise.
Can Sule, too, reduce the old men of the NCP to the fate faced by the Congress Syndicate of 1969? Can she craft a similar inspirational message? There is a vacuum waiting to be filled, certainly, in Maharashtra. Can she move from being their “Bai” to becoming their “Tai”? Maharashtra has a great tradition of women leaders from Savitribai Phule to Pandita Ramabai, Ahilyabai Rangnekar, Mrinalbai Gore, Pramilabai Dandavate and Sumabai Chitnis.
The second lesson is to seek retribution. She warned her rivals not to make fun of her father’s age when she said “one can say anything to us and make allegations against me. I am ready to hear anything but not about my father.” For Ajit Pawar to ridicule his uncle’s age publicly, and for Praful Patel to allow it, and for the other NCP MLAs to sit quietly and not protest, must have hurt Sharad Pawar deeply. It offends one’s sense of decency. What is also at stake is Sharad Pawar’s legacy.
Was his formation of the NCP a mistake, his articulation of a secular nationalism an error? Does his contribution to Maharashtra belong to the same league as YB Chavan or will it be reduced to that of just another player in local politics? The moment requires her to choose. Will she be the devoted daughter who fights for her father’s honour, for Maharashtra’s pride, and for a different national politics, or will she get dragged down by the diminished imaginations that prevail? Retribution here should not be seen as only against the offending individuals but also against a politics of abuse and dishonour.
The third lesson is the building of a renewed politics of public purpose. This may sound vague and idealistic but remember it is India that gave the world the idea of “seva” and where a “seva dal”, which was strong in Maharashtra, grew into a formidable force of nation building. It is possible to build a new politics in which Maharashtra will lead the nation, where attacks such as that on Alexander Coates Reid, principal of D Y Patil English High School, Ambi, Talegaon, by communal goons, will not only not take place but will not even be conceived as a possibility. In abandoning the old calculus and creating a new politics, Maharashtra can lead the way.
This is the moment when Supriyabai moves out of the shadow of Sharad Pawar and comes into her own, claiming a space alongside the “tais” of Maharashtra. She will have to travel to every town and village to tell her story till it becomes folklore. That is the demand of change.
The writer is an independent scholar. He was Director of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study,
Shimla 2007-2013
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