Maharashtra’s ruling coalition has found itself in yet another storm, this time triggered by the high-handed behaviour of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. His indecent outburst against an upright IPS officer, Anjana Krishna, a woman at that, in a case linked to alleged illegal mining, has not only crossed all limits of decency but also raised troubling questions about the credibility of the BJP-led government.
A leader in such a position brazenly shouting down an officer for merely doing her duty is more than arrogance—it reeks of political dadagiri that has no place in a democracy.
This is not an isolated incident. Ajit Pawar, the ambitious nephew of NCP patriarch Sharad Pawar who broke ranks to float his own faction, has been a source of embarrassment more than once for the Devendra Fadnavis-led dispensation. His behaviour shows a consistent pattern: shielding the corrupt, intimidating officials, and flaunting political power as if governance is his private fiefdom.
Each episode chips away at the image of the coalition government that BJP painstakingly built on Narendra Modi’s national credibility and Fadnavis’s reputation for clean, efficient administration.
Let us recall the recent Pune road rage tragedy, where a young woman lost her life. Reports suggest that Pawar’s own family member was linked to the accident and that the machinery was allegedly manipulated to shield the guilty. The public outrage was immense, yet Pawar brazened it out, using political clout rather than moral conscience to deal with the matter. It is this mindset of impunity that emboldens him further, culminating in the current disgraceful episode.
The BJP, to its credit, did not need Ajit Pawar to form the government after its emphatic win in the last assembly polls. On its own strength—backed by Modi’s popularity and Fadnavis’s leadership—the party could have ruled comfortably. Yet, in the spirit of coalition dharma, it chose to accommodate both factions: the Shiv Sena, led by Eknath Shinde, and Ajit Pawar’s breakaway group of the NCP.
Shinde, who had once served as Chief Minister, was given the generous offer of Deputy Chief Ministership—an office he could scarcely have imagined reclaiming without the BJP’s backing. This itself was a course correction, for when he first walked out of Uddhav’s party and floated a smaller breakaway group, it was Fadnavis, with a larger number of MLAs, who could have rightfully claimed the CM’s post. Yet, the BJP compromised for the sake of stability.
The same generosity extended to Pawar, who, despite having only a handful of MLAs, was allowed to double his strength in the Assembly after the last elections. Instead of valuing this political accommodation, both Shinde and Pawar appeared to treat BJP’s generosity as a licence for arrogance.
The irony is stark. While BJP cadres sweat it out at the grassroots, projecting Modi’s vision of development and Fadnavis’s efficient governance, a tainted ally like Ajit Pawar mocks the entire exercise with his reckless conduct. The longer BJP tolerates this behavior, the more it risks alienating its own supporters, who trusted the party to deliver clean governance, not to provide political cover for dynastic satraps of the Pawar clan.
Let us not forget that Ajit Pawar’s politics is built on opportunism. He deserted his uncle Sharad Pawar for greener pastures and latched on to BJP’s coattails only to remain in power. His loyalty lies not with the government or its people, but with protecting vested interests. This latest episode of shielding alleged illegal miners is a case in point. A deputy chief minister who openly undermines law enforcement cannot be defended on the altar of coalition arithmetic.
For the BJP, the message from the people is clear: you cannot campaign on the promise of good governance and then look the other way when your ally tramples on the rule of law. Coalition compulsions are one thing, but political survival cannot come at the cost of moral credibility. Every day Ajit Pawar remains in office after such repeated embarrassments, the BJP pays the price in public perception.
The choice before BJP is stark and simple—discipline Ajit Pawar firmly, or dump him altogether. Anything less will be seen as surrender to the very brand of corrupt, dynastic politics that the BJP once swore to end. The credibility of the coalition and the image of the party depend on it.
