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By:

Abhijit Mulye

21 August 2024 at 11:29:11 am

Congress ditched us first: Sunil Tatkare

Mumbai: In a significant escalation of the ongoing friction within Maharashtra’s political landscape, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) state unit chief Sunil Tatkare has squarely blamed the Congress party for the disintegration of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance. In a candid interview with a Marathi television news channel, Tatkare asserted that the Congress was the first to "ditch" its partners, a move he claims fundamentally broke the trust required to sustain the coalition and...

Congress ditched us first: Sunil Tatkare

Mumbai: In a significant escalation of the ongoing friction within Maharashtra’s political landscape, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) state unit chief Sunil Tatkare has squarely blamed the Congress party for the disintegration of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance. In a candid interview with a Marathi television news channel, Tatkare asserted that the Congress was the first to "ditch" its partners, a move he claims fundamentally broke the trust required to sustain the coalition and forced the NCP to reconsider its political future. Tatkare’s revelations come at a fragile moment for the NCP, which is still reeling from the sudden accidental death of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in late January 2026. The tragedy has sparked intense speculation about a potential "Ghar Wapsi" or reunion between the rival NCP factions. However, Tatkare has emerged as a lightning rod for criticism from the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (NCP-SP), with leaders like Shashikant Shinde and Rohit Pawar accusing him of being a "blockade" acting at the behest of the BJP to prevent the party from coming back together. Addressing these allegations, Tatkare defended the party’s decision to remain aligned with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) under the Mahayuti banner. “The BJP and the top leadership of NDA have given us a trust and the clarity that they would take us along ahead. We have even worked as part of the UPA earlier. I was the state president of the party even back then. We have closely experienced – and even suffered - the ill treatment mated to the allies there. We have also observed the BJP’s conduct since 2014,” Tatkare said while explain what went behind his party’s decision to go along with the BJP. While elaborating on the specific incidents that led to the beginning of the end, Tatkare gave a specific anecdote from the seat sharing talks with the Congress. “I was the state party chief and we were in seat sharing talks with Prithviraj Chavan representing the Congress. We wanted some seats exchanged. We were asked to furnish the list. Despite my suspicion and hence opposition, we shared the list. My nightmares came true. The Congress declared their candidates on all the seats. That was the first fissure within the MVA,” Tatkare said. He noted that unlike their experience with the Congress, the BJP has consistently followed "alliance conduct" and treated its partners with cordiality. He dismissed the reunification rumours as baseless, emphasising that the party is committed to carrying forward the ideology and political stand established by the late Ajit Pawar.

Warriors of Night

Updated: Oct 22, 2024

We name our daughters Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati; we worship the divine feminine power in the temples but oppress, repress and even attack the feminine power amidst us. That is the irony in the way India sees its women.

After the safety of the daylight fades, women are seen as easy prey by the predators of the night.

We mark the nine nights of Navratri, the festival of the goddess, by celebrating the dedication and valour of nine real-life women who brave the challenges of the night to pursue their dreams.


Part - 4


Never felt unsafe

The singer says there has been a generational change over the last two decades

Never felt unsafe

Work has no timings for Aisha Sayed. Sometimes, she begins her studio recording at 12 AM and finishes by 5 AM; at other times, concerts and live shows start at 9 AM and she’s done by midnight. In her field of work as a performer and singer, Sayed is used to not getting a night’s sleep and often returning home when most of the city is set to wake up. “I have been travelling at night but I have never, ever, felt unsafe in Mumbai,” says the singer-performer who began her career at the age of 13 years. Her father spotted her talent for music and took her to meet a sound engineer who was their neighbour in Bandra. The family helped her get opportunities and from there, her career began.

Being among the top contenders in Indian Idol, season 3, in 2007 catapulted her to fame and it opened up a world of new performance opportunities across the country. “I was just 20 years then and I was travelling the world, performing at the most lavish weddings, staying at the most luxurious hotels and performing at big corporate gigs,” she says. Safety, while on work, is has never been an issue for her for the organizers arrange a security detail for the performers. “They escort us until we reach the room. And since we travel with our team in a big group, there is always safety in numbers,” says Sayed, who sings in 10 languages. Her peers have faced instances of audience members being rowdy. “Once in Delhi, a group of drunk men followed my colleague to her room and kept banging on her door late into the night. But I have been fortunate,” she says.

Work assignments have taken to varied places, from the most luxurious international destinations to far-off venues in the hinterland of India where she’s travelled through dark, dense forested areas. “I have driven through areas where the only light is that of your car’s headlights. Turn around and you see pitch darkness,” says Sayed. She’s always got a little prayer on her lips when travelling through these remote areas for miles together. She recalls a show in Chattisgarh where she had to travel for nine hours at a stretch through remote and forested areas. “No place in our country is as safe as Mumbai,” she stresses. She would know, considering her extensive travels. She advises women to travel in groups while in places that are unfamiliar or unknown and never to venture out at night alone. “Keep your family informed of your whereabouts,” she says.

While her agreements state that proper security at all times, Sayed says that she drives her own car if she’s out at night for parties or personal work but insists that the people of Mumbai are largely helpful and cooperative. A rickshaw driver who once drove to home in the wee hours of the night, after a recording, waited at her gate until the watchman let her in. Friends and colleagues have dropped her home several times.

Mumbai, she feels, has changed—and it’s for the better, in the past two decades. “Earlier, on buses and trains, men would use the crowd as an excuse to touch women inappropriately. That has gone down. There is a generational change that I see,” says Sayed. She used to take the BEST buses and trains to her training classes and for recordings in the early days of her career.

Her timings are inconsistent and her shows take her to various cities and towns. But the Mumbai-bred girl emphasizes that her city is very safe for women, despite the various incidents of violence. “Mumbai is the only place where a woman can wear what she wants, wear bright red lipstick, leave her hair open and look glamorous and still be safe.”

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