Friendship and fierce rivalry, both co-exist in equal measure in the relationship that Narendra Modi and Sharad Pawar share. On Tuesday, weeks after the BJP engineered a split in his party, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president shared the stage with the prime minister at an award ceremony in Pune. Pawar — who ignored requests from his party and allies to give the event a miss — and Modi warmly greeted each other at the Lokmanya Tilak National Award ceremony. The PM was bestowed with the award by the Tilak Smarak Mandir Trust on the 103rd death anniversary of freedom fighter Lokmanya Tilak. NCP insiders and others who have closely tracked Pawar’s career said there was no chance of the Maratha veteran dropping out of the event, pointing out that he is a stickler for protocols. Then there are several examples of the two leaders, who have known each other for more than four decades, expressing admiration for each other and, following the dharma of politics, tearing into each other in the political arena. A year after he stormed to power in Delhi, Modi, on February 14, 2015, inaugurated the Krishi Vigyan Kendra at Pawar’s home turf Baramati in Pune district. He later had lunch with the Pawars. The following year, the PM inaugurated a three-day conference organised by the Vasantdada Sugar Institute in Manjri near Pune just days after announcing demonetisation. The PM took everyone by surprise when he labelled Pawar his “political mentor”. He said, “I have personal respect for Sharadrao Pawar. He held my finger and helped me walk in politics. I feel proud to announce this publicly.” The comments, at the time, took the state BJP by surprise as it was trying to target the NCP chief on the corruption plank. In response to Modi’s comments, Pawar said, “I wonder how Modi works. In the morning he was in Japan. On his return, he immediately visited Goa. Then Belgaum and now here. Wonder where he goes at night.” A few months later, in January 2017, Pawar referred to this episode while taking aim at the PM. “I said, this is it. I brought him into politics. He (Modi) is a smooth talker. He speaks in such a powerful manner that the person hearing him believes there is something to the man … that he must be having a 56-inch chest.” That year, the BJP-led government honoured Pawar with the Padma Vibhushan. But, the rhetoric turned bitter as the 2019 general elections approached. In 2018, at the NCP plenary in Pune, Pawar targeted Modi over the “worsening condition” of Dalits, minorities, and women in the country and the “talkative PM’s” silence on key public issues. The veteran leader, on several occasions, has flagged the threat to democracy and Constitution that Modi poses. On the campaign trail, Modi exhorted people to break the shackles and end the Pawars’ rule in Baramati. The NCP was not a “rashtravadi (nationalist)” party but a “bhrashtravadi (corrupt)” one. Pawar hit back, asking Modi to elaborate on what he had done during his tenure. He also said, “Modi says he came into politics holding my finger. But now I am worried. I had to let go of this finger now.” As the BJP and the Shiv Sena fell out a few months later after returning to power in the Maharashtra Assembly elections, Pawar took advantage by managing to break the alliance and shaping the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance with the Sena and the Congress. As the farmers’ protest against three central farm laws began near Delhi in November 2020 — it would go on for a year — Pawar, a former Union agriculture minister, hit out at the Centre, accusing it of not heeding the advice of Opposition parties and pushing the new laws through Parliament. But, even during this war of attrition, there have been moments of conviviality between the two leaders. At an event organised by Loksatta in Pune in January 2021, Pawar said, “Modi has a good hold over administration. And that is his strength. He has this strait of perseverance. If he takes a task he ensures it reaches its conclusion.” Pawar, one of the most tactically sound politicians around, has mastered the art of keeping friends close and enemies closer. As the Opposition earlier this year turned up the heat on the Modi government over the Hindenburg report and questioned industrialist Gautam Adani’s links to Modi, Pawar distanced himself from the Opposition offensive. This helped take the sting out of the Opposition’s attacks. “Pawar saheb has mastered the art of sailing on two boats simultaneously without falling into the water,” said a senior Cabinet minister from the NCP who did not wish to be named.
