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Journalism of Courage
The impending entry of Sunetra Pawar into the Rajya Sabha has added yet another Pawar name to the pantheon of dynastic politicians from Maharashtra. With family patriarch Sharad Pawar already a Rajya Sabha member, his daughter Supriya Sule in the Lok Sabha, and his nephew Ajit and grandnephew Rohit in the Maharashtra Assembly, Sunetra is set to become the fifth Pawar to hold public office.
Sunetra’s move to the Rajya Sabha, following her defeat in the Lok Sabha contest in the family stronghold of Baramati, indicates the heft of the Pawar family in Maharashtra politics despite the split in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
The 11 children of Govindrao and Shardabai Pawar — seven sons and four daughters, with Pawar being the eighth child — have cumulatively had a profound impact on the socioeconomic and political landscape of Maharashtra. While the 82-year-old Pawar, an MP, former Chief Minister and ex-Union Minister, is the most dominant and well-known name from the Pawar clan, his 10 siblings made names for themselves in their respective fields.
Pawar’s political grounding is said to have been inspired by the activism of Shardabai who was associated with the Peasants and Workers Party and the Congress. In 1938, Shardabai was elected unopposed in the Pune local board elections and was one of the few women politicians in Pune district. Pawar has often referenced his mother, thanking her for instilling in her children a respect for hard work and commitment to public causes.
Sharad’s eldest brother Vasantrao was a noted lawyer in Pune district. He was shot dead over a land dispute. Along with Vasantrao, three of Sharad’s older brothers are deceased. They are Dinkarrao, an agriculturist; Anantrao who is the father of Deputy CM Ajit Pawar; and Madhavrao who set up his own industrial units. Suryakant is an architect with interests in the real estate sector. He is followed by Sarla Jagtap and Saroj Patil, the wife of the late Narayan Dyandeo Patil, a towering figure of the Left movement and the Peasants and Workers Party who had a close relationship with Pawar despite their contrasting approaches to politics and clashes on various issues. Pawar is followed by his sister Meena Jagdhane; brother Pratap who heads the Sakal group of newspapers; and youngest sister Neela Sasane.
While the second generation of the Pawar clan largely stuck together, the emergence of the third generation of the family has led to increasing signs of differences within the family. Like the rest of the Pawar family, Ajit, Pawar’s nephew, cut his teeth in politics in the cooperative sector. By Pawar’s side since 1991-’92, he fancied himself heir apparent after Pawar broke away from the Congress to form the NCP.
Ajit was elevated to the rank of Cabinet minister in the Maharashtra government at the age of 40 in 1999 after having served as a junior minister for almost a decade. He subsequently went on to helm high-profile ministries, including irrigation, rural development, water resources, and finance, which helped him spread his clout throughout the state, including his own pocket borough in western Maharashtra.
It was Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule’s entry into politics in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections that first led to speculation about unease within the NCP’s first family. Another irritant for the Ajit camp was the entry of Pawar’s grandnephew Rohit into politics. Rohit contested and won the 2019 Assembly elections from Karjat Jamkhed. Rohit is the grandson of Dinkarrao and the son of Rajendra, who along with his brother Ranjit has interests in agribusiness and wineries in Pune.
Weeks before the 2019 Assembly elections, Ajit broke down in public over the Enforcement Directorate (ED) naming him and Pawar in a money laundering case. Saying that he was hurt, Ajit resigned as an MLA and went incommunicado.
Pawar’s decision to step back from contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha elections was said to have stemmed from Ajit’s insistence on fielding his son Parth from Maval. Parth’s loss is believed to have added to the bad blood between the two.
In 2019, Ajit broke away from his uncle to form a short-lived government with the BJP. While Pawar managed to outwit his nephew and was instrumental in bringing him back to form the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, Ajit finally broke away for good, splitting the NCP in the process, in July 2023 and joining hands with the BJP.
The split in the NCP also caused a fracture in the Pawar clan, with most of the siblings deciding to side with the senior Pawar. Ajit has, over the past year, often publicly lamented being treated as an outcast by his family. His own elder brother Shriniwas is said to have campaigned against him and there are now indications that his son Yugendra is being groomed to take on Ajit in his home turf of Baramati in the Assembly polls later this year.
