Sharad Pawar
Sharadchandra Govindrao Pawar is an Indian politician known for his long career in national politics. Pawar served three terms as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, held cabinet positions in the Union Council of Ministers, including Minister of Defence under P. V. Narasimha Rao and Minister of Agriculture under Manmohan Singh. He is the founder and leader of the Nationalist Congress Party which he helped establish in 1999, following a split from the Indian National Congress. Pawar is regarded for his influence in Maharashtra's politics and rural society, having been compared to Chanakya due to his long-standing role in coalition politics and grassroots networks in Indian politics.
Born in Baramati, Maharashtra, Sharadchandra Govindrao Pawar is the patriarch of the Pawar political family, including his daughter Supriya Sule, nephew Ajit Pawar, and grandnephew Rohit Rajendra Pawar.
Pawar served as the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India from 2005 to 2008 and of the International Cricket Council from 2010 to 2012. He also headed the Mumbai Cricket Association from October 2013 to January 2017.
He received the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian honor, in 2017.
Personal life and family
Sharad Pawar is one of eleven children born to Govindrao Pawar and Shardabai Pawar. Govindrao's ancestors were relocated to Baramati from the nearby Satara region. Govindrao had a long career with the Sahakari Kharedi Vikri Sangh, a Baramati Farmers' Cooperative. He also managed Shahu Boarding, a student hostel, during the 1940s. In the 1950s, he was involved in the establishment of cooperative sugar mills in the area.Govindrao Pawar was elected to the district local board three times between 1937 and 1952. He also managed his family's farm located in Katewadi, ten kilometres from Baramati. Sharad Pawar completed his education up to the 10th standard under the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education at Maharashtra Education Society's High School in Baramati.
Pawar married Pratibhatai Pawar, daughter of test cricketer Sadashiv Shinde in 1967. Their daughter, Supriya Sule, represents the Baramati constituency in the 17th Lok Sabha.
Several members of the Pawar family have had held political roles within the government of Maharashtra. The family has two Members of Parliament and two Members of the state Legislative Assembly. Among them, Ajit Pawar was the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra.
Pratap Pawar, Pawar's younger brother, is chairman and managing director of the Marathi daily newspaper Sakal. Ajit Pawar, a nephew of Pawar, was serving as one of the two Deputy Chief Ministers of Maharashtra at the time of his death. Rohit Rajendra Pawar, Pawar's grand-nephew represents the Karjat constituency in the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha.
Political career
Early career
Pawar began his political career in 1956, organizing a protest march for Goan Independence in Pravaranagar. Although his older lawyer brother belonged to the Peasants and Workers Party, Pawar preferred the Congress party and joined the Youth Congress in 1958. He later became the president of the Poona district Youth Congress in 1962, and by 1964 had become one of two secretaries of the Maharashtra Youth Congress.1967–1978
In 1967, Pawar was nominated as the candidate for the Baramati of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly over more established members by the undivided Congress Party. He won the election and represented the constituency from 1967 to 1990. In 1969, when the Congress Party split after the 1969 Indian presidential election, he opted for the Congress faction of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, along with his mentor Yashwantrao Chavan.As the MLA of Baramati in the early 1970s, he oversaw the building of percolation tanks during a severe drought in Maharashtra. He was also heavily involved in the politics of the local cooperative sugar mills and other member-run cooperative societies.
In the early 1970s, the Chief Minister at the time, Vasantrao Naik, had been in power for almost a decade, and there was jockeying for succession among different factions of the state Congress party. Prominent leaders such as Shankarrao Chavan, another member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, and other emerging leaders were among those positioning themselves for influence and potential leadership roles. At that time, looking to the future leadership of the party, Yashwantrao Chavan persuaded Naik to bring Pawar into his cabinet as state Home Affairs Minister in March 1972.
1978-1987
In the 1977 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress Party, under Indira Gandhi, lost power to the Janata Alliance. Taking responsibility for the loss of a large number of seats in Maharashtra, Chief Minister Shankarrao Chavan resigned shortly afterwards and was replaced by Vasantdada Patil. Later that year, the Congress Party split again, with Pawar's mentor Yashwantrao Chavan joining one faction, Congress, and Indira Gandhi leading her faction, Congress. Pawar joined the Congress faction. In the state assembly elections held early in 1978, the two Congress parties ran separately but then allied to keep power for Vasantdada Patil. This was in response to the rise and success of the Janata Party, which emerged as the minority government after the election. Pawar served as Minister of Industry and Labour under the Patil government.In July 1978, Pawar broke away from the Congress party to form a coalition government with the Janata Party. In the process, at the age of 38, he became the youngest Chief Minister of Maharashtra. This Progressive Democratic Front government was dismissed in February 1980, following Indira Gandhi's return to power.
In the 1980 elections, Congress won the majority in the state assembly, and A.R. Antulay took over as chief minister. Pawar took over the Presidency of his own Congress party in 1983. For the first time, he won the Lok Sabha election from the Baramati parliamentary constituency in 1984. He also won the state assembly election of March 1985 from Baramati and preferred to return to state politics, resigning his Lok Sabha seat. Congress won 54 seats out of 288 in the state assembly, and Pawar became the leader of the opposition of the Progressive Democratic Front coalition, which included the BJP, PWP, and the Janata party.
1987–1990
Pawar's return to Congress in 1987 has been cited as a reason for the rise of the Shiv Sena during that period. At the time, Pawar stated that his decision was driven by "the need to save the Congress Culture in Maharashtra". In June 1988, Prime Minister of India and Congress President Rajiv Gandhi inducted then Maharashtra Chief Minister Shankarrao Chavan into his Union Cabinet as Finance Minister; Pawar was chosen to replace Chavan as the Chief minister. Pawar had the task of checking the rise of the Shiv Sena in state politics, which was a potential challenge to the dominance of the Congress in the state. In the 1989 Lok Sabha elections, Congress won 28 seats out of 48 in Maharashtra. In the state assembly elections of February 1990, the alliance between the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party posed a stiff challenge to Congress. Congress fell short of an absolute majority in the state assembly, winning 141 seats out of 288. Pawar was sworn in as chief minister again on 4 March 1990, with the support of 12 independent members of the legislative assembly.Early 1990s
During his 1991 election campaign, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated. The party elected P.V. Narasimha Rao as the party president. It was expected that the party president would become the prime minister in the event of a Congress victory.The Congress Parliamentary Party unanimously elected P.V. Narasimha Rao as their leader, and he was sworn in as prime minister on 21 June 1991. Rao named Pawar as defence minister. On 26 June 1991, Pawar took over that portfolio and held it until March 1993. After Pawar's successor in Maharashtra, Sudhakarrao Naik, stepped down following the Bombay riots, Rao asked Pawar to serve again as chief minister of the state. Pawar was sworn in as chief minister for his fourth term on 6 March 1993. Almost immediately, Mumbai experienced a series of bomb blasts, on 12 March 1993. Pawar's response to the blasts attracted controversy. More than a decade later, Pawar admitted that he had "deliberately misled" people following the bombings by saying that there were "13 and not 12" explosions, and had added the name of a Muslim-dominated locality to show that people from both communities had been affected. He attempted to justify this deception by claiming that it was a move to prevent communal riots, by falsely portraying that both Hindu and Muslim communities in the city had been affected adversely. He also admitted to lying about evidence recovered and misleading people into believing that it pointed to the Tamil Tigers as possible suspects.
Mid-to-late 1990s
In 1993, the Deputy Commissioner of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, G. R. Khairnar, made a series of accusations against Pawar for being involved in corruption and protecting criminals. Though Khairnar could not produce any evidence in support of his claims, it inevitably affected Pawar's popularity. Notable social worker Anna Hazare started a fast-unto-death to demand the expulsion of 12 officers of the Maharashtra state forest department who had been accused of corruption. The opposition parties accused Pawar's government of trying to shield the corrupt officers.The 1994 Gowari stampede occurred at Nagpur, during the winter session of the state assembly, and killed 114 people. Nagpur Police were trying to disperse almost 50,000 Gowari and Vanjari protesters using baton charges but the police created panic and triggered a stampede amongst protesters. Allegations were made that the mishap occurred because welfare minister Madhukarrao Pichad did not meet with the delegation of the Vanjari people in time. Though Pichad, accepting responsibility for the mishap, stepped down, this incident was another setback to Pawar's government.
After 16 years of protest by the Namantar Andolan, the state government finally renamed Marathwada University to Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University on 14 January 1994, the compromise new name being an expansion of the old name rather than a complete change of name. As chief minister, Pawar announced a few developments in university departments.
New elections to the Vidhan Sabha were held in 1995. The Shiv Sena-BJP coalition was leading Congress in the polls, and there was widespread rebellion in the Congress party. Shiv Sena-BJP won 138 seats while Congress retained only 80 seats in the state assembly. Pawar had to step down, and Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi took over as chief minister on 14 March 1995. Until the Lok Sabha elections of 1996, Pawar served as the Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly. In the 1996 General elections, Pawar won the Baramati seat in the Lok Sabha and left the state assembly.
In June 1997, Pawar unsuccessfully challenged Sitaram Kesri for the post of President of the Indian National Congress. In the mid-term parliamentary elections of 1998, Pawar not only won his constituency, Baramati but also led Congress to a win by a large majority of Maharashtra Lok Sabha constituencies. Congress was aligned with the Republican Party of India and Samajwadi Party for the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra. The Congress party won 33 Lok Sabha seats outright, and the allied Republican Party of India won 4 more, for a total of 37 out of 48 in the state. Pawar served as Leader of the Opposition in the 12th Lok Sabha.