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By:

Rajendra Joshi

3 December 2024 at 3:50:26 am

Has politics of convenience caused ideology to collapse in Maharashtra?

In the political churn that followed the Emergency (1975–77), one of Maharashtra’s most defining moments came in 1978 when the joint government of the Reddy Congress and the Indira Congress collapsed. A young Sharad Pawar, then just 38, walked out with 40 MLAs and brought down the government. He soon returned to power via the ‘Pulod’ alliance, only to move back into the Congress fold in 1986 — and then break away again in 1999 to float the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) over the issue of...

Has politics of convenience caused ideology to collapse in Maharashtra?

In the political churn that followed the Emergency (1975–77), one of Maharashtra’s most defining moments came in 1978 when the joint government of the Reddy Congress and the Indira Congress collapsed. A young Sharad Pawar, then just 38, walked out with 40 MLAs and brought down the government. He soon returned to power via the ‘Pulod’ alliance, only to move back into the Congress fold in 1986 — and then break away again in 1999 to float the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) over the issue of Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origins.   Ironically, the same Pawar later partnered with the Congress for a decade at the Centre, switching between Left allies and the erstwhile Jan Sangh with equal ease to retain power. Yet the questions remain: Where were ideology and loyalty in this long trajectory? His admirers and political commentators routinely called it statesmanship, but for Maharashtra, it marked the beginning of a political culture where ideology and party loyalty became dispensable. That seed has now grown into a full-fledged tree: in today’s politics, ideology is optional, loyalty negotiable.   Shiv Sena, founded in 1966 by Balasaheb Thackeray to assert Marathi identity, was first split in 1991 — a move widely attributed to Pawar, who backed Chhagan Bhujbal’s exit. Years later, the same Pawar shared power with the Sena in the state and even installed Uddhav Thackeray as Chief Minister. The Sena later splintered again, this time under Narayan Rane, and most dramatically under Eknath Shinde. Meanwhile, Raj Thackeray’s MNS took shape as a revolt against his uncle’s party.   More recently, the Baramati family feud saw Ajit Pawar walk into the BJP camp. Now talk of a rapprochement between Uddhav and Raj Thackeray, and between Sharad and Ajit Pawar, is gaining momentum. The churn has spread. Across districts and talukas, defections and homecomings are routine. Ideology and loyalty are honoured more in rhetoric than reality.   But it is the workers who bear the brunt. While leaders exchange sweet words and political comfort, it is party cadres who crack heads on the street, face police cases by the hundreds, and wage bitter battles in the name of leaders who may reunite the next day. The real question haunting Maharashtra today is: Who is fighting for whom — and against whom?   Power, as they say, is honey on the finger. Compromises existed earlier too, but there was once some hesitation in abandoning ideology and loyalty. Party-switching was an exception; today it is a norm.   Kolhapur has witnessed some of the most dramatic political rivalries — none more iconic than the decades-long clash between Sadashivrao Mandlik and Vikramsinh Ghatge. Their workers were so fiercely loyal that even inter-family social ties were avoided. After nearly 30 years of conflict, the two leaders reconciled — leaving party cadres bewildered.   The pattern repeats in Kagal today. Hasan Mushrif, once Mandlik’s trusted lieutenant and later his fiercest rival, and Samarsinh Ghatge, son of Vikramsinh, have come together. For years, Mushrif and Samarsinh fought pitched electoral and street battles. The BJP backed Samarsinh to unseat Mushrif. When power equations shifted, the BJP embraced Mushrif, leaving Samarsinh isolated. He crossed over to the NCP but continued to be uneasy under Devendra Fadnavis’s influence. Now rumours of reconciliation are again in the air — and once more, it is the workers who are left directionless.   Political battles in Maharashtra have always been fierce. In the 1970s, the Peasants and Workers  Party of India produced workers so committed that some vowed never to remove their red caps even in death. Congress stalwart Shripat Rao Bondre carried a Gandhi cap discreetly in his pocket in ShKP strongholds, but never abandoned the Congress ideology after winning municipal power.   Over the decades, thousands of workers have suffered fractured skulls, broken homes, lost generations, children dragged into police cases, and families ruined in local rivalries. Leaders switched parties, but workers continued visiting courts.   Which brings us back to the central question: In progressive Maharashtra, who exactly is fighting for whom — and against whom?

Top terrorists killed in operation

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New Delhi: The Indian strikes on terror nerve centres of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir under Operation Sindoor on May 7 have neutralised five most wanted terrorists of these organisations, including the mastermind of IC-814 hijacking in 1999, officials said Saturday.


The funerals of these terrorists were attended by senior Pakistan Army officers and police personnel, besides wreaths were placed on behalf of the chief minister of Pakistan's Punjab province, Maryam Nawaz, providing an open testimony of the Pakistan State's collusion with terrorist organisations, they said.


Mohammad Yusuf Azhar, listed at number 21 in the most wanted list of terrorists prepared by the Union Home Ministry, is the brother-in-law of Maulana Masood Azhar, the dreaded chief of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).


He was the mastermind of the hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane IC-814 in which Masood Azhar was released with two other dreaded terrorists in exchange of passengers and crew members of the Indian Airlines flight that was taken to Kandhar in southern Afghanistan by the terrorists.


Yusuf Azhar was present in the Bahwalpur headquarters of the JeM, where he imparted weapons training to the cadres, with his family members when Indian munitions hit the centre with clinical precision, reducing it to rubble.


Another brother-in-law of Masood Azhar, Hafiz Muhammed Jameel, who was in-charge of Markaz Subhan Allah in Bahawalpur, a massive training centre for JeM terrorists, was also eliminated in the strike, they said.


Jameel was actively involved in the radical indoctrination of youth and fundraising for the JeM.


Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Mudassar Khadian Khas, who went by the alias Mudassar and Abu Jundal and was in-charge of Markaz Taiba, Muridke, was killed in the strike on the proscribed organisation's nerve centre by Indian forces.


His funeral exposed the active collusion between the Pakistan State and terror after videos of him getting a guard of honour from the Pakistan Army were circulated on social media.


It was noticed that wreaths were laid on behalf of the Pakistan Army Chief and Punjab CM Maryam Nawaz, who is the daughter of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and niece of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.


Army officers present

The funeral prayer was led by Hafiz Abdul Rauf of Jamaat al-Dawah -- who is a designated global terrorist -- and attended by a serving Lt. General of the Pakistan Army and the Inspector General of Punjab Police in a government school, concrete evidence of the State being hand in glove with the terrorists.


A Lashkar terrorist, Khalid alias Abu Akasha was involved in multiple terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, besides weapons smuggling from Afghanistan.


His funeral, held in Faisalabad, was attended by senior Pakistani Army officials and the Deputy Commissioner of Faisalabad.


Mohammad Hassan Khan, the son of the operational commander of JeM in PoJK, Mufti Asghar Khan Kashmiri, was also eliminated in the strike.

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