Maharashtrian, first & last (Interview with Mr Sharad Pawar)
S Balakrishnan
The Times of India
May 25, 1999
Title: Maharashtrian, first & last (Interview with Mr Sharad Pawar)
Author: S Balakrishnan
Publication: The Times of India
Date: May 25, 1999
He has taken the biggest gamble of his 40-year-long political career
by openly revolting against Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who has
inherited the dynastic mantle of the Nehru-Gandhi family. Mr Sharad
Pawar is grimly aware of the daunting task ahead of him. But, he is
in a rare mood for combat and he is determined to emerge as the key
player after the Lok Sabha elections scheduled to be held later this
year. He has already announced plans to launch a new political
party. In between sips of Darjeeling tea late on Sunday evening, he
spoke to S Balakrishnan at his flat at "Ramalaya" building on Peddar
Road.
Q: Soon after you were expelled from the Congress, you said you fell
relieved since you had felt like a slave in the party. Elaborate.
A: I felt humiliated in the party. There was hardly any involvement
in the decision-making process. Often I came to know about the
party's decisions through the newspapers. I found that a small
coterie of people was taking decisions in the name of the so-called
high command. There was no scope for airing a dissenting opinion.
Often I was told that a particular statement or observation made by me
was improper. For example, I had candidly spoken about the political
situation and other issues at a recent meeting of the Confederation of
Indian Industries (CII) in New Delhi. Immediately, I was told that my
views were not liked by the leadership. In the Congress, there are
two types of people. The first type consist of those who have
contacts with the masses and the party rank and file and are genuinely
concerned about the organisation. The other type comprises of people
who are totally rootless, but visit New Delhi very often and
repeatedly demonstrate their sycophancy. The tragedy is that it is
the latter variety of people who are given importance. This despite
the fact that the party is paying a heavy price for encouraging
sycophancy. When I expressed my sincere concern over this sorry state
of affairs, it was not liked and baseless motives were attributed to
me. I felt mentally tortured.
Q: Don't you think that it was after Indira Gandhi assumed the
leadership of the Congress that intra-party democracy all but vanished
and sycophancy was mistaken for loyalty?
A: But Indiraji had a tremendous feel for the pulse of the people.
Rajiv Gandhi could perfectly understand the mood of the youth. They
did not let their ears be poisoned by sycophants.
Q: You supported the move to make Sonia Gandhi the party president and
also the decision to amend the party constitution to enable her to
become chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) and you
also campaigned with her during the last Lok Sabha elections. Were
you not aware all along that she was a person of foreign origin?
A: The Congress has had four persons of foreign origin as its
president. So there was nothing wrong if she wanted to become the
party president. As for the CPP leader-ship issue, I must confess
that none of us were even aware of the move till the last moment. We
were simply told that the leader - Mrs Gandhi - wants the amendment to
be carried out.
I did have reservations about this, but it was too late to oppose the
move. In any case, I did not make an issue of it, since we were in
the opposition. As for the election campaign, I wish to point out
that never once did Sonia Gandhi say that she wanted to become the
Prime Minister and nor did she project herself as such. In fact, at
Nandurbar, she declared that she was not even a primary member of the
Congress, but she has entered the campaign since she was a part of the
Congress family. I believed her when she said she had come out into
the open only to revive the Congress.
Q: When exactly did you decide to revolt against her?
A: When she drove down to the Rashtrapati Bhavan after the collapse of
the Vajpayee government and informed President Narayanan that she, as
distinct from the Congress, had the support of 272 MPs. That was when
her intention be-came very clear. She wanted to become the Prime
Minister of India even though she had lived a substantial portion of
her life as a foreigner. I was stunned and like me other Congress
leaders were also stunned. I was deeply worried be-cause the Congress
would lose very heavily in the elections if it is going to project a
foreigner as its Prime Ministerial candidate.
Some of the Congress leaders who are now attacking me told me that
they will not join a ministry led by a person of foreign origin. All
of us were worried as to how posterity will judge us for permitting a
foreigner to become the Prime Minister of a large and great country
like India. It was then that myself and other likeminded people
decided to boldly express our views.
Q: But is it not because you want to become the Prime Minister of
India that you are raising this issue?
A: It is an absurd charge. I am fighting for a principle. We are
witnessing a battle between a foreigner on the one hand and 100 crore
self-respecting people on the other. Having said this, I want to ask
you is it a crime if I have the ambition to become the Prime
Minister? I have been in politics since 1958. Over the past 40
years, I have risen from the rank of a ordinary party worker to become
a member of the Congress Working Committee. I have 32 years of
experience as an MLA and a Parliamentarian. This being the case, is
it a crime to nurture an ambition? Every political worker has some
ambition or the other. If he is told not to have any ambition, then
he will feel demoralised and the party will suffer.
Q: You are forming a new political party and trying to network with
other likeminded organisations. In terms of political arithmetic,
don't you think that you will effectively end up helping the Bharatiya
Janata Party since you will be splitting anti-BJP votes?
A: We have done our arithmetic. The likeminded parties will assess
their strength and weakness in each constituency and emerge victorious
with a large number of MPs. The national mood is definitely against
the imposition of a foreigner on the country.
Q: Will you return to the Congress if Sonia Gandhi declares that she
is not interested in becoming the Prime Minister?
A: She had earlier stated that she was not interested in power, but
only in strengthening the Congress. Then she became the party
President, the chairperson of the CPP and recently she openly staked
her claim to prime ministership. I won't 'trust her if she says she
is not keen on becoming the PM.
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