Five years ago, Indian political leaders across political divides came together to mark Sharad Pawar’s birthday and his contribution to India’s cricket, politics, and agriculture. Today, the NCP veteran turns 80.
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00:00In Sharadrao, there is also a quality of a farmer.
00:09A farmer gets an idea of the weather quickly.
00:15He is a politician through and through, in the best sense of that term.
00:41If I remember correctly, the date, just around 6th or 5th December, he took over as the Chief
00:56Minister and in less than a week, the series of blasts took place in Bombay, which is known
01:04as Bombay Blast.
01:34And I remember very well, he had brought all the crops from Gujarat.
01:41What crops are grown in this area, what are the priorities of the farmers, your farmer
01:46is slowly moving towards cotton.
01:49And he was explaining to me, look brother, you take leadership and meet the farmers,
01:56explain to them that cotton is fine, but the country needs wheat.
02:01And explain to your farmers in Gujarat that they should go towards wheat and you do something
02:06for me.
02:07This feeling, this commitment for his work, this commitment, I understand that if there
02:15is a minister, then letters will be sent, messages will be sent, officers will call,
02:20but doing this work as your own work, this commitment.
02:26If you meet Sharad Rao anytime, if you talk to him for 10 minutes, even in cricket, once
02:37I was involved in the world of cricket and he was also involved, so I had to meet him
02:41because of that.
02:42If we talk about cricket for 8 minutes, then for 5-10 minutes he used to talk about the
02:47farmers.
02:49If we talk about cricket, we have to talk about cricket, but he used to talk about the
02:56farmers immediately.
02:57So from the traditional point of view, the way we have seen the farmer, Sharad Rao,
03:03the way we have seen the farmer from a different perspective, this was his way of talking.
03:07And I think that his, all these, if you meet him anytime, and say the word sugarcane,
03:15he will explain it to you for an hour.
03:18All the letters are with him.
03:21What to do with sugar, how much to export, what to do, all the things are with him.
03:28And one thing used to come out, that as a good administrator, his identity used to spread
03:35all over.
03:37And Mumbai, which is the city that gives life to our economic life, a period came,
03:47a whole decade came, where the underworld somehow destroyed the life of Mumbai.
03:56And a dark atmosphere was visible, that if Mumbai is in the hands of the underworld,
04:02then what will happen?
04:03And I say that Sharad Rao had the courage and his skill that he saved Mumbai from the
04:09underworld.
04:11He brought it out.
04:13This was his capability.
04:15And there was no hesitation.
04:18Sharad Rao's specialty is that he does not hesitate in doing what he believes.
04:24Once I went to Israel with him.
04:28We were together for many days.
04:32So he used to tell me one thing, that Mr. Modi, your problem is that you are more image
04:38conscious.
04:42You don't care, do whatever you want to do.
04:46Because he had his own conviction.
04:48That brother, whatever is there, I have to do it and I will keep doing it.
04:53Sharad Pawarji has a record of enduring achievements in whatever positions he has occupied.
05:02And we would need much more than just this one function to enumerate them and celebrate
05:12them all.
05:14He was, of course, Chief Minister of Maharashtra four times.
05:19And he is still remembered for his leadership then and his effective administration.
05:29He was Defense Minister and more recently he was Agriculture Minister for a record 10
05:37years between 2004 and 2014.
05:44No one else could have been in that crucial position for such a long time.
05:50He was a natural choice.
05:52In fact, he was the only choice.
05:59I have known him for more than two decades.
06:03We may have differed on some occasion, perhaps on many occasions, as any two individuals
06:13would do in a democratic system.
06:18But what has always been there, what has always been constant, is our respect for each other
06:29and the mutual belief that the legacy of our founding fathers should be protected, preserved
06:38and promoted.
06:40He spoke up with passion for more profitable MSPs.
06:46It was during his tenure that production in rice and wheat reached record levels.
06:55His friendships with his political opponents and adversaries are legendary.
07:02In the modern language of IT, his networking skills are formidable.
07:11And those skills are much needed when politics takes on a bitter partisan flavor as it does
07:25quite often.
07:28He is a politician through and through in the best sense of that term.
07:40No tribute to Sharad Pawarji can be complete without a reference to his fondness for cricket.
07:50Not many know that his father-in-law, who tragically died at a very young age, was a
07:59leg spinner who played seven test matches for India.
08:04Perhaps this could have been one influence on him, apart from the fact that he has spent
08:23so much of his life in Mumbai, which has been the cradle of much of our cricketing talent.
08:32Whatever it is, he has given to Indian Cricket Administration the famed Sharad Pawar's expertise.
08:46And I still remember, because I had a very small side role, while Ahmed Bhai was negotiating
08:55with him about the portfolio and other things, to my utter surprise, the former Defence Minister
09:03of India suggested that he would like to have Agriculture Ministry.
09:10And when I left active political life on being elected to the office of the President of
09:23the Republic, I recognised how wise his decision was, because if today India is the second
09:37largest producer of wheat and rice in the world, and converting the country from a net
09:45importer to net exporter, a substantial contribution has been made by him.
09:54Over the last ten years, continuously holding this important ministry.
10:02Sharad Pawar ji, I knew him over decades.
10:07Though before 1984 he didn't come to Central Politics, he mainly confined his activities
10:14in Maharashtra as one of the youngest Chief Ministers of this country.
10:20When he first became Chief Minister in Maharashtra in 1978, he was not even 40.
10:28He was just 38.
10:30I think at the age of 27 he entered into Maharashtra Assembly.
10:36And since then till today, there is no interruption in his legislative life, either in Assembly
10:46or in Parliament.
10:49And I have no doubt after two years, he will provide us an opportunity to facilitate him
10:55on the completion of his 50 years of legislative life, which speaks his acceptance to his people,
11:08the confidence which he enjoys on the people of this country.
11:16If I remember correctly the date, just around 6th or 5th December, he took over as the Chief
11:26Minister, and in less than a week, the series of blasts took place in Bombay, which is known
11:34as Bombay Blast.
11:36And without any wastage of time, he brought back normalcy in the economic nerve centre
11:48of India, which was appreciated by ever-critical media, and they particularly chose a phrase
12:02which still I remember, Salaam Bombay.
12:05Salaam Swarup Pawar ji, Salaam Bombay.
12:08Many more happy returns of the day.