Yugendra Pawar, the grandnephew of NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar, is gearing up to challenge his uncle Ajit Pawar in the November 20 Maharashtra Assembly polls. This marks yet another family face-off following the Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year in which the senior Pawar's daughter, Supriya Sule, emerged victorious by a comprehensive margin over the NCP chief's wife Sunetra.
In an exclusive chat with The Free Press Journal, Yugendra, who is also fondly called 'Dada' like Ajit Pawar, confidently spoke about the challenge he faces from his uncle, the family dynamics, the issues plaguing Baramati, his SoBo boy image and more.
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Below are the excerpts from the interview:
Q. Several people have trolled you on social media for your 'broken' Marathi. How do you respond to them?
A. If you see my speeches or if you see my interviews in Marathi, then whoever was trolling me will get a reply to whatever they were saying. However, during the oath-taking while filing my nomination papers, there were certain words I took longer than normal to pronounce; these aren't words that we use in our everyday conversation. Plus, for me it was a very big day in my life; I was overwhelmed and then on a day like this they gave me the oath to read and that's why I must have fumbled. It's fine, it happens to everybody; even seasoned politicians stumble while pronouncing such words. I don't take such trolling seriously. Language is a form of communication and as long as you can communicate and get your point across properly, it's alright. The people who are trolling me can't find any other point so they have to look through a microscope to find such things.
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Q. Could you give a gist of what you have done so far in your career?
A. I studied at the Cathedral School in Mumbai. I went to Europe for high school. Later, I went to Boston University. There, I founded my startup which was similar to Instacart. We had close to 200 bikes on the road that were doing deliveries for people in the US. After I exited the startup, I started doing social work. I started an institute called Maharashtra Organic Residue Free Farmers Association (MORFA) which promotes organic farming and residue-free farming. Then I started looking after my family business, which is into sugarcane, ethanol and sugar byproducts. I was also the head of the Baramati Wrestling Association. I also looked after Vidya Pratishthan, an educational institution founded by Pawar Saheb. We also have the Sharayu Foundation through which we work on water conservation and digging wells for farmers.
Q. Was getting into politics always on your mind?
A. I never thought about getting into politics, but I was always involved in social work. A lot of my responsibilities for many years have been in Baramati. Pawar Saheb has always guided me and given me the right direction, and that's why I thought I should be with him and support him. Growing up, he was always my idol and mentor.
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Q. What is the environment in the family ever since the party split?
A. Our family has been in politics for many years now. After the Lok Sabha elections, I think the people were prepared for another contest within the family. If you see, many years ago when Pawar Saheb was entering politics by joining the Congress and following the Gandhi-Nehru ideology, there were some people in the family who believed in the leftist ideology. In fact, Pawar Saheb's mother was a leftist thinker. However, there has been a culture in the family that even though you have ideological differences, it should not come between personal relations.
Q. Ajit Pawar won the 2019 Assembly polls by a margin of 1.67 lakh votes. Are you feeling the heat?
A. A little bit. But that was five years ago. If you see during the Lok Sabha polls, the Baramati Assembly seat from where Ajit Pawar gets elected, they were trailing by close to 50,000 votes. Besides, Baramati always votes for the candidate that is backed by Pawar Saheb. The incumbent MLA has had support for so many years only because Pawar Saheb was behind him. It will be interesting to see what will happen this time around.
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Q. Your cousin Rohit Pawar started his political career at the Zilla Parishad level. Didn't you feel the need to start from the grassroots? And why Baramati, why not any other seat like Rohit?
A. It's not like that. If you see, Ajit Pawar became an MP in his first election. Everyone has their own destiny. Also, contesting from Baramati wasn't my choice; it was given to me by my party. Besides, I have been working here for the last six to seven years; it's not that I have just come here and I am contesting the elections. Only I came in front of the media during the Lok Sabha elections while campaigning for Supriya Tai. In the case of Rohit, maybe in 2019, he didn't have any available seat to contest and that is why he chose Karjat-Jamkhed, a seat in the neighbouring Ahmednagar district, which is not very far from Baramati.
Q. If you get elected, what problems do you look to solve for the Baramatikars?
A. There are a bunch of issues. Firstly, the water crisis needs to be solved. Even today, there are a few villages in the Baramati Assembly constituency that face water problems. Secondly, unemployment is very big in Baramati as it is in the state. Crime and corruption are very big issues. Rivers are dirty and they need to be cleaned. The environment needs to be focused on as our generation is very environment-conscious. There are women's safety and security issues which need to be prioritised. There is the garbage disposal issue. My personal dream is that an IT park along the lines of the one in Hinjawadi is built here. Affordable housing needs to be brought here as there are certain pockets where there are still slums in the city. There are no proper drainage systems, there are no proper toilets. These are some of the issues I'll be focusing on.
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Q. Do you see any reconciliation happening post-elections?
A. I don't know. I am just focusing on Baramati and my election. These things are for senior leaders to decide on, and whatever decision they take, we as juniors will have to go along with that.