NCP chief Sharad Pawar snubs Fadnavis over his ‘I will come back’ comment, says hubris does not work in politics

Political leaders should not take voters’ for granted

In a democracy government works because of administration refutes allegations of being a remote control

Mumbai: Sharad Pawar, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president has said that “hubris” does not work in politics and if anybody tries to take voters’ for granted, then he is taught lesson.  

“No political leader should take his voters’ for granted.  When a political leader makes statement that “I will come back” … people think thought that there is hubris involved in such statements and then they decided to teach them the lesson”, Pawar said in an interview given to Shiv Sena’s party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’.

Pawar was interviewed by Senior Shiv Sena leader and executive editor of ‘Saamana’ Sanjay Raut. This is also for the first time in the history of ‘Saamana’ that a leader other than from Shiv Sena was interviewed.

In past Raut had interviewed Sena’s founder Balasaheb Thackeray on numerous occasions. Also, its current party president and incumbent Maharashtra chief minister, Uddhav Thackeray has been interviewed on several instances.       

Also Read: Sanjay Nirupam targets CM Uddhav Thackeray; seeks probe into Matoshree-2 deal

“If the voters are taken for granted then he never tolerates that. A leader like Indira Gandhi who had tremendous mass support, but even she had to taste defeat. Same was true with Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He was also defeated. This means that the common man of this country is cleverer than the political leaders when it comes to his democratic rights”. Pawar said. 

And when he (voter) think that we (political leaders) are crossing the threshold than he teaches us the lesson. And when someone takes a stand…only we…only we, then people do not like that, he added, 

When questioned by Raut, that wasn’t it strange that a party which emerged as a single largest party could not form the government. “Was it a miracle?” to which Pawar replied, “It is necessary to go in depth about this. The party which got highest number of 105 seats. How that particular party became an important political party. Shiv Sena has a major contribution in the figure which they achieved. If Shiv Sena would not have been their ally then than the figure of 105 would have been somewhere near 40-50.” “BJP leaders took Shiv Sena for granted who helped them get 105 seats,” he added.

Pawar also said that he never thought the ideology of Balasaheb Thackeray was in sync with that of BJP. “The Balasaheb Thackeray that I know…maybe you people know about him more. But I never felt that his (Balasaheb) ideology, his working style is sync with that of BJP”, the senior leader said.

Commenting on the experiment of forming the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government comprising Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, the veteran leader said, “The experiment of MVA is successful. It would have proved to be more successful and people would have reaped fruits of this government. Unfortunately, the crisis of coronavirus pandemic happened. All the leaders in the government, entire machinery is involved in combating the crisis. “ 

“If this kind of setup would not have been there, the government would not been able to face the crisis so effectively,” he added.   

“There are three parties with three different ideologies, but they all are backing the Chief Minister. There has been no politics in tackling crisis. Leaders of all three parties are working together and are standing tall behind the people”, Pawar asserted. Nobody is struggling to take credit, he added.

On being asked whether he is a headmaster or a remote control of the government, he said, nothing among the two. “If there is a headmaster then he should be in school. In democracy, government or administration does not function via remote control. 

Where the remote control works? Where there is no democracy. We have seen the example of Russia. There (Vladimir Putin) will remain in power till 2036. Here the power is concentrated with one man.  But here in our country and state there is democracy and in democracy government cannot run through a remote control.  

I do not accept that. The chief minister and his cabinet is running the government, he said.

“There is a difference in the way of functioning of Balasaheb Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray. However, Uddhav Thackeray is doing excellent job as a chief minister”, he remarked.