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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

‘Vahini’ crowned NCP’s new ‘Maharani’

Mumbai:  Damning all political ‘pundits’ and ‘punters’ on the fate of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) after its President and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar’s numbing death in an air-crash on Jan. 28, his widow Sunetra Ajit Pawar seamlessly bounced into his place, both in the party and the government. Feeling orphaned and rudderless, the top-brass quickly elected Sunetra, 62, a Rajya Sabha Member, as the new NCP President, as the NCP Legislature Party Group Leader and as the Deputy CM of the state –...

‘Vahini’ crowned NCP’s new ‘Maharani’

Mumbai:  Damning all political ‘pundits’ and ‘punters’ on the fate of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) after its President and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar’s numbing death in an air-crash on Jan. 28, his widow Sunetra Ajit Pawar seamlessly bounced into his place, both in the party and the government. Feeling orphaned and rudderless, the top-brass quickly elected Sunetra, 62, a Rajya Sabha Member, as the new NCP President, as the NCP Legislature Party Group Leader and as the Deputy CM of the state – making her the first woman to occupy the august post – and ensuring continuity with change. Most political analysts – who crowed of an impending doom for the NCP – were left speechless and breathless at Sunetra’s dramatic catapult into three key positions, wielding full control, barely 72 hours after her husband’s passing. For the soft-spoken Sunetra, these official positions may be new, but she’s hardly naïve and boasts a quiet and commanding profile in public life, in the social and business fields, though she was rarely seen and hardly heard, letting Ajit Pawar bask in the limelight. Political Clan Hailing from a prominent state political clan, her reluctant political journey started in summer-2024 when the NCP fielded her against her ‘nanad’ (and Ajit Pawar’s cousin), Supriya Sule, a three-time veteran MP from the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency. It was intended to score political brownies over the Nationalist Congress Party (SP) of Sharad Pawar after the party he founded 25 years ago suffered a bitter vertical split in July 2023 - that even divided all the people in every home of Baramati. The 2024 Baramati LS contest rivalled that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Varanasi), but in the ‘Vahini’ ‘Nanad’ fight, the latter emerged victorious. However, Sunetra Pawar took it in her stride and she became a Rajya Sabha Member in June 2024 – which she quit today after taking over a Dy CM. Both Sunetra and Supriya enjoy cordial relations, both were MPs, both ensured the heat and dust of politics did not affect familial ties – as strictly ensured by Sharad Pawar since the past six decades – and was visible when the entire Pawar clan turned out to support her after Ajit Pawar’s sudden death. Away in Shadows Born in Ter, Dharashiv, Sunetra is the younger sister of former Minister and ex-MP Padamsinh B. Patil, and is a B.Com . Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, but preferred to stay away in the shadows. Silently working, Sunetra gradually built a public profile rooted in sustainable development, environmental conservation, women’s empowerment and rural transformation. Combining community-based involvement with institutional leadership, she played a significant role in shaping mass rural development models in the state. In 2010, she founded the NGO Environmental Forum of India (EFOI), that focused on environmental awareness and sustainable rural practices, introduced India’s eco-village model, integrating sanitation, renewable energy, waste management, green-bridge technology, solar technology and livelihood generation into rural development. It caught national attention after Katewadi village in Baramati was transformed into the country’s first eco-village in 2008. She led the Nirmal Gram (Clean Village) Campaign through self-help groups across 86 villages in Maharashtra, promoting organic farming, biodiversity conservation, water management and drought mitigation. Over the years, her initiatives bagged her multiple honours like the Sant Gadge Baba Swachata Abhiyan Award, Green Warrior Award, Cyber Gram Award, Nirmal Gram Award presented by then President Pratibha Patil, and recognition at the SACOSAN Summit under SAARC. In 2006, she took over as Chairperson of the Baramati Hi-Tech Textile Park Ltd, a multi-modal garment manufacturing cluster under the Centre’s Scheme for Integrated Textile Parks. Employing over 15,000 rural women, the park provides subsidies, training and skill-upgradation facilities, and ranks as her flagship contribution to women’s empowerment, with widespread recognition. Sunetra is a Trustee of Vidya Pratishthan, the premier educational institution with over 25,000 students, founded in 1972 by Sharad Pawar, and is a member of a Think Tank, the World Entrepreneurship Forum, France, since 2011, and is a Trustee-Advisor to an old age home in Baramati. Sunetra Ajit Pawar – propelled into high-profile duties three days after her husband Ajit Pawar’s death – is usually seen sporting pastel-shaded plain saris of different materials, silks, starched cottons, with light designs, accompanied by matching or colourful or printed blouses. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sunetra Pawar was allotted excise, sports, minority development and Aukaf departments, but not finance and planning which her late husband Ajit Pawar held.

Lingua Pragmatica

Updated: Mar 20, 2025

As Southern leaders like M.K. Stalin rage against Hindi, Andhra Pradesh’s Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu offers a model of pragmatism over parochialism.

Chandrababu Naidu
Andhra Pradesh

Amid the cacophony of opposition in southern states to Hindi, Andhra Pradesh CM N. Chandrababu Naidu has taken a markedly pragmatic stance by remarking recently in the state Assembly that there was no harm in learning other languages. Hindi, Naidu noted, was useful for communication across India, particularly in political and commercial hubs like Delhi. His remarks, though avoiding explicit mention of the NEP, were widely seen as an endorsement of multilingualism and a rebuke to the linguistic chauvinism that has gripped parts of the South.


Few issues in India stir political passions quite like language. It is not merely a means of communication but a marker of identity, a relic of colonial resistance, and a source of political mobilization. In the southern states, where anti-Hindi sentiment has long been entrenched, the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and its three-language formula have reignited old tensions. No state embodies this defiance more than Tamil Nadu, where the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) led by M.K. Stalin has framed the policy as an assault on its linguistic autonomy.


Naidu’s words, welcomed by his ally and Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, mark a sharp contrast with the DMK’s position. Tamil Nadu’s hostility towards Hindi dates back to the 1930s, when C. Rajagopalachari’s attempt to introduce it in schools met with fierce resistance. The anti-Hindi agitations of the 1960s cemented the DMK’s ideological stance, with its first Chief Minister, C.N. Annadurai, famously warning that Hindi imposition could push Tamil Nadu towards secession.


The question, however, is whether this rigid opposition serves Tamil Nadu’s interests. While Stalin, with an eye to the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, has been relentlessly portraying Hindi as a threat to his state’s regional identity, Naidu, a partner of the BJP-led Centre, is framing it as a tool for economic mobility. His argument is not that Hindi should replace Telugu or English but that it offers a competitive advantage.


The economic case for multilingualism is compelling. Indians who speak multiple languages tend to have better job prospects, higher earnings and greater geographic mobility. Andhra Pradesh’s Telugu-speaking diaspora is a case in point. Telugus make up a significant proportion of Indian-origin professionals in the United States, the Gulf, and Southeast Asia as Naidu pointed out, hinting that this success story was built not on linguistic rigidity but on adaptability.


In a country where inter-state migration is rising and where Hindi remains the most widely spoken language, refusing to learn it amounts to self-imposed isolation. Tamil Nadu’s approach, by contrast, risks limiting its youth. The DMK government has refused to implement the three-language policy, keeping schools strictly bilingual with Tamil and English. Its justification that Hindi is not necessary for global success could be true in a narrow sense but ignores the domestic context. If Tamil filmmakers can dub their movies into Hindi to expand their audience, why should Tamil students be denied access to the language that could open more doors for them within India?


The DMK has accused successive central governments, particularly under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), of pushing Hindi at the expense of regional languages. Yet, rejecting Hindi outright is an overcorrection. The reality is that Hindi is an important language in India’s economic and political landscape. Naidu’s position, one of accommodation rather than confrontation, offers a middle ground that other Southern leaders would do well to consider.


Some states already recognize this. Karnataka, despite its own history of linguistic pride, has allowed Hindi to be taught as an optional language. Kerala, whose migrants work in Hindi-speaking regions and the Gulf, has been less hostile to Hindi education. Naidu’s model, balancing regional identity with practical necessity, offers a way forward. Languages should be embraced, not politicized. Southern leaders would do well to listen to him.

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