Commentary/ Saisuresh Sivaswamy

The Congress election was actually a matter of Pawar losing than Kesri winning

Did Sharad Pawar, the ambitious Maratha leader trying to desperately break out of the shackles of history, expect to receive such a drubbing at the hands of a politician who would have a long ago gone into superannuation had he been in the private sector?

Politicians, more than any other tribe, are victims of vanity and a bloated self-image. Given a choice most of them would rather not go through with the quinquennial trial by fire imposed on them by the Constitution. Not only is an election a true measure -- or lack -- of their popularity, it also holds up a mirror for them to discover their warts.

In that sense, the elections to the All India Congress Committee presidentship, which was actually a matter of Pawar losing than Kesri winning, is a blessing in disguise. In that, it is not a true barometer of Pawar's popularity among the masses, the electorate; there is still time before that is put to test, although there are enough to point out he is no more capable of working his charm, the voters having seen through him. This round was only a test of his hold over the organisation which he hopes to head one day.

That was for the blessing part, but the flipside is disheartening. Where does a politician's personal popularity end and where does that of the party he represents start? And, how can a man who has received such a crushing defeat within his own party, ever recover lost ground? In short, does Pawar amount to anything without the Congress? And, if he is serious about heading the Congress party, where does he start to win over the sceptics?

Going by the resounding mandate handed over to incumbent Kesri, and conversely the lack of enthusiasm for Pawar, barring in Maharashtra and to some extent Gujarat, no one wants to see the Maratha ascending the top job in the party. In that sense, it is possible that a lot of Kesri voters were more impelled by their dislike for Pawar than a genuine belief that the former can deliver.

Kesri, of course, can afford to be magnanimous in victory, but it must be borne in mind that a politician and his words are often and easily separated. Today he may wax eloquent about his confidence in Pawar, but tomorrow is another day. Media outrage over his abrupt withdrawal of support to H D Deve Gowda government has obscured his skills of realpolitik. Here is a politician who is working to a plan, the first part of which was to demonstrate how supine the party was before his whims, even on a question so crucial as precipitating a possible midterm election. The media, in its overreaction to this move, has hastily dismissed him as a stopgap, gleefully highlighting the fact that he was only a provisional president.

Ergo, the next step was to have his election ratified, which has been achieved with little blood split. The third step would be overseeing the return of the Congress party to power, but intertwined with that is the defanging of Sharad Pawar, of which the electoral drubbing was only a curtain-raiser.

Pawar's Delhi manoeuvres have not displayed the same panache or skill as his operations in Maharashtra. In fact, in the national capital, Pawar has been as effective as a fish out of water. The AICC presidentship elections was a failure of perception on his part. In 1991, when he first decided to throw his hat into the ring, it was haste on his part; haste that the golden opportunity presented to the non-Gandhi fraternity by the removal of the party's star campaigner from the scene, should not be squandered. By then he had barely spent five years in the organisation, a fact which was presumably brought to his notice causing him to withdraw.

Six years later, little seems to have changed. Perhaps his proximity to media stalwarts was to blame, but he has chosen to behave exactly as a journalist aspiring to a post only by dint of his years at work, competence be damned.

In his overzealousness to occupy the party gaddi before the northern leaders face a revival in fortunes, Pawar, it appears, failed to see the chakravyuh so carefully spun around him. Oh yes, he took the proper precautions by tilting to 10 Janpath before going into the ring; and, although that postal address did not deter him, there is no reason to believe there has been a thaw between the two, certainly not from Sonia Gandhi's side, as Pawar will discover in the days to come.

Pawar was one of the most virulent anti-Congress votaries around before he entered Congress. It would be very odd if his utterances of those days were so quickly forgotten by those at whom it was aimed.

The game plan to neutralise Pawar would in fact begin now.

There is a commonality of purpose to this end among many notable players in the political proscenium, and there are few places left for Pawar to go. Where can one go to hide from one's own past?

In his hour of solitude, there is a little consolation for Pawar, as indeed fate has a habit of smoting one on the right and smothering on the left. That little bit of glad tidings comes from Maharashtra, whose voters had unequivocally rejected his brand of politics in favour of the saffron variety. Nevertheless his party, which faced defeat under his leadership, has stood by him, electing as its state leader one of his acolytes.

That is about the only favourable thing in life's latest episode for Sharad Pawar. As the plank is pulled inexorably from under his feet, perhaps the message from Maharashtra is his last lifeline: come home, all is forgiven. Rather than lose a war in unfamiliar terrain and against a well-entrenched enemy, maybe he should heed the message. Centuries ago, that is what another, far greater Maratha warrior did.

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