Satara (The Hawk): Political discourse reached a new low on Friday when Sharad Pawar, the president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), was referred to as a purported "bhondu baba" who practises "black magic" by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
During a media interview, the state BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule "unmasked" the 82-year-old veteran politician Pawar's up until that point "unknown face," causing political repercussions.
Sharad Pawar is comparable to a "bhondu baba" (fake godman). To control anybody who enters his sphere of influence, he uses "dark magic." Actually, his entire party engages in similar behaviour, according to Bawankule.
The state BJP president used the Shiv Sena (UBT) President Uddhav Thackeray as a shining example of a victim of Pawar's alleged "mumbo-jumbo manipulations" in 2019 to support his odd assertion.
"Thackeray met him (Pawar) when we were establishing the government at the time and fell victim to Pawar's trap. He then closed the door behind us, went away, and didn't come back. Everybody captured by Pawar suffers the same outcome, remarked Bawankule with a grin.
Nilesh D. Lanke, an NCP MLA, initially characterised Bawankule's statements as the product of a "deranged mind" in the party's initial response.
Bawankule was criticised by NCP National Spokesperson Clyde Crasto, who claimed that he had "lost his wits" and that power had corrupted him.
"He has a backward mentality, which is why he accepts concepts like black magic. Look like he understands how it works and uses it regularly. He is still speaking this way to get cheap attention despite the fact that the world has advanced and gotten more contemporary.
Bawankule has a history of making contentious remarks with the intention of upsetting the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies of the NCP, Sena (UBT), and Congress.
Before the 2024 assembly elections, Bawankule vowed to undertake a "visarjan" (immersion) of the NCP-Congress in the state when touring the six-decade-old Pawar clan stronghold of Baramati.
He previously cautioned the leader of the NCP, whom Prime Minister Narendra Modi once referred to as his "guru," not to even consider opposing the Prime Minister, who is doing well and is well-liked throughout the nation.
The apparent provocation was Pawar's rumoured candidacy for chairman of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) or united opposition candidate for prime minister, but the Maratha strongman himself denied both claims.
Bawankule issued a warning to Thackeray a few months prior, telling him to "stay mute" and refrain from criticising the new administration of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, which took office when the MVA government fell in June.
"You only had one chance (to serve as Chief Minister), and you wasted it. The new administration has accomplished what you couldn't in 2.5 years in about 50–60 days. The state's citizens are pleased with the swift judgments they are making. You now keep quiet, he hissed at Thackeray.
(Inputs from Agencies)