Sharad Pawar is said to be a brain behind some social media handles, profiles and pages which disguise themselves as staunch Hindutwa workers, but try to manipulate the social media narrative and brainwash hardcore Hindutwa followers into Modi and RSS haters.
Maharashtra has a habitual manipulator who is powerful enough to manipulate every aspect of the social and political life of the state. He is so powerful that even he would not spare the popular electoral mandate. The range of manipulations touches everything – from education to intelligentsia, from media persons to media narratives, from social behaviour to religious events, from sports to policing to people's jobs – you name it, and you will find his connections. For good or bad or worse, you can't bypass this powerful leader in the state's public affairs. After stealing the state's political power by manipulating the public mandate, he is now trying to manipulate the Narcotics bureau and the powerful Enforcement Directorate to shield some criminals and corrupt leaders. He even made public his "wish" that the agitating Punjab farmers may attack PM Narendra Modi just like they did to Indira Gandhi…!!!
Yes, you read it right. Maharashtra has a powerful person who manipulates everything. His influence controls the state's media persons, his influence "inspires" states intelligentsia – writers, authors, poets, storytellers – they can't bypass his influence. His influence sets the state's political and social narrative. His influence directs state government's policies. His influence runs through educational institutes and sports bodies. And his influence manipulates policies and investigations of the state police force… He is Sharadchandra Pawar, the aged high-profile ex-CM of Maharashtra and India's ex agriculture and defence minister.
His habit is that he keeps media away until when he needs to manipulate something. When he wants to manipulate something, he uses media blatantly until he achieves the results he thought of. He is currently on a media blitzkrieg spree, attacking the Narcotics Bureau, the Enforcement Directorate, and the Income Tax department, conducting raids in Maharashtra based on intelligence inputs. He is trying to shield some of his party leaders and some celebrities in Bollywood. He is trying to influence and manipulate the investigations of the narcotics bureau and the IT department, and ED through his press interactions. His back-to-back press conferences, in two days attacking the central law enforcement authorities, made his intentions clear. His uneasiness was visible through his statements and body language, as the central law enforcement refused to bulge under his pressure.
Some may raise their eyebrows reading this, but the majority of commoners, political observers and independent journalists will readily agree with the statement that he is the biggest manipulator of India's political landscape. He has a modus operandi that appears so naïve that nobody would point it as manipulation at first glance. He makes his wishes public through a public speech or a press conference, which then will be carried out by the concerned authorities. The elements under his influence in concerned authorities or agents take a hint from his public statements and act accordingly. The biggest example was the "Hindu Terror" ploy set by him a few years ago, which resulted in high esteemed military officers like Col Purohit being arrested without evidence and put behind bars for years without trial. Sadhvi Pragya was another victim of these manipulations.
It was he, who, on a party stage in a public programme, had said that "The police should investigate Hindu Terror angle in Malegaon blast case." Until then, the ATS and NIA had already arrested few Muslims for the Malegaon case based on their investigations with sufficient evidence at hand. And even after Sadhvi Pragya's arrest, the NIA refused to bulge under political pressure and kept those men in custody, presenting the courts the evidence they had gathered. It was again "he" who gave a public statement that those Muslims should be bailed out, after which the authorities refrained from opposing the bail plea of those terrorists, and they eventually got bail. Experts say that the evidence was "manufactured" by the agents of the manipulative politics to frame 'Hindu Terror'. It's an open secret that how badly Sadhvi Pragya and Col Purohit were tortured in police custody. His party's minister Hassan Mushrif, whose police officer, brother SM Mushrif, wrote a book titled "Who Killed Karkare?" which accused RSS of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack sparing Pakistan of this heinous crime. The book is still available in the market.
His modus operandi is clear. Direct his agents within authorities, the media, the intelligentsia to take actions as per his wish, thru public platforms like a staged speech or a press conference, setting a clear anti-Hindu narrative. This way, he keeps himself away from any responsibility arising out of the actions of the civil administration or law enforcement, the media or the intelligentsia, and the actions of political or social activists. As he enjoys big influence over a large media section, nobody would ask the rationale behind such a setting of manipulative narratives and political or administrative manipulations. The elements loyal to him in the entire system of politics, law enforcement, civil administration, media and intelligentsia would immediately spring with full force to act accordingly.
There are many examples of those manipulations in every walk of state public life history. But he forgets that, nowadays, social media is more powerful than traditional media, so these manipulations are bound to backfire and hit back hard where it hurts. The scenario is now changed, and the elements he commended unchallenged through this influence to date are now aware of the consequences of their actions and the good or bad influence they create on society and long term public life. The same elements, mostly part of the city and the law enforcement administration, don't want to be part of this manipulative process anymore and would like to play a good role in nation-building efforts instead. But unfortunately, the same can not be said about the media section and the intelligentsia, which is still under the "spell" of the manipulative leader.
These sections of media and intelligentsia are the ones who have created a larger-than-life image of Sharad Pawar, who, despite being four times CM, never completed even three years in a row on the post. He never had a political influence beyond the section of western Maharashtra – the social media calls him "leader of three and half districts." But the "loyal" section in the media portrayed him as a super CM. Yes, he is a super CM, not by his deeds but through the influence he enjoys through his 'agents' strategically placed in every walk of public life.
History of manipulations
In 1993 March, when Mumbai was hit hard by twelve serial RDX bomb blasts by Dawood men, Shri Pawar, who was then Cm of the state, gave a public statement with false info the thirteenth blast being in the Muslim area, just to spare the culprits. The info soon proved wrong, and he had to admit that he 'manipulated' the info to create a "secular Blasts"!! His habit never died, and the manipulations came hitting hard the very society he wanted to rule. The above mentioned Malegaon case and Mushrif's book were the height of manipulations.
Pawar manipulated the cooperative movement so that the leaders of his party enjoyed the public wealth for private hobbies through the cooperative sugar mills, the district cooperative banks, etc. Even they controlled the state's APMC markets, ruining the actual farmers.
He manipulated the state's irrigation sector so hard that according to a statement in the state legislature by then CM Devendra Fadnavis, the entire region of Marathwada and Vidarbha faced drought for decades while the three and a half districts controlled by Shri Pawar got plenty of water. Even it was proved that he stole the entire water meant for Solapur district and diverted it to the Baramati area. Fadnavis had ordered to reverse the process and diverted the water to the Solapur district's legitimate beneficiary. But as soon as the MVA government came to power, one of the first things they did in the first week was to divert this water back to Baramati, even when it was proved that they were stealing it.
The manipulations never stopped. Shri Pawar enjoys immense influence over the leftist section of the intelligentsia, which controls the educational institutes. A few years ago, he had assembled the leftist historians and the Heads of the History departments of various universities with leftist inclinations from all over the country in Mumbai. He tried to influence them to work against the centre's educational policy and to oppose the Ram Mandir preparations. But his fortunes turned, and a section of media that refused to bulge under his influence smelled the rat and exposed his plans in time, which averted a national embarrassment to the field of education.
It is an open secret that he was the "inspiration" behind the "Shiv Dharm", which claims to be a separate religion for Marathas and brainwashes the Maratha community that they are not Hindus. He has created a large team of brainwashers who travel across the state to "influence" Marathas against Brahmins and other castes and pull them in the "Shiv Dharma" fold. The Shiv Dharmis reject Hindu Gods, reject Vedas and worship Jija Mata, mother of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, as their God. The "historians" 'created' by this system of Shiv Dharma tell a different story of Shivaji Maharaj and present him as a "secular, Muslim lover King"!!
The "Sambhaji Brigade" is one such organisation that was "inspired" by him. The Brigade had a two-point agenda – 1) oppose Brahmins in every walk of life and 2) present Shivaji Maharaj as an anti-Hindu, pro-Muslim secular king, with 57% Muslims in his army.
The blatant lies presented by Shiv Dharmis and The Sambhaji Brigade are time and again exposed by the honourable historians nationally. But the brainwashing never stopped.
He broke the traders' hartal against the LBT (Local Body Tax) a few years ago by dividing even them on a caste basis. His 'agents' held meetings of different traders' associations based on their castes and deliberately staged them against one another. A small-time Marathi trader had told this correspondent, "According to Saheb, the LBT is not going to be collected from Marathi traders. It's only going to be collected from Marwadi and Gujrati traders !!!" At the same time, the Gujrati and Marwadi traders associations were fed with the info against one another. Such blatant lies he spreads to gain control over different sections of society. Still, he could never get full-fledged support from the entire society of Maharashtra.
The grapevine within the journalists in Delhi is that, during his days as a central minister in New Delhi, his cabinet colleagues suspected him of being the one who was leaking the cabinet info prematurely. But then PM Shri Manmohan Singh shielded him. Delhi media circles are full of stories of his "administrative skills". The fact remains – that he was never trusted by any political leaders – neither in Delhi nor in Maharashtra.
He was said to be the brain behind the Maratha agitation against the Fadanvis government calling for reservations for Marathas. The same leaders of the community who openly insulted Fadanvis in a street goon language are now shying away from media keeping their mouth shut even when they have lost a reservation given by Fadanvis Government, makes it clear who was the Manipulator behind Maratha Reservation agitation against Fadanvis government. He manipulated public perceptions time and again on many issues.
He is also said to be a brain behind some social media handles, profiles and pages which disguise themselves as staunch Hindutwa workers, but try to manipulate the social media narrative and brainwash hardcore Hindutwa followers into Modi and RSS haters. Many such fake profiles are being exposed daily, but the flow hardly stops. His party's workers were caught creating a fake profile and posing as Fadanvis' CMO officer, offering few journalists some money.
Abdul Karim Telgi named him in a multi-thousand crores stamp paper scam in a narco test. But the section of media and his agents in administration shielded him.
He "influenced" and manipulated a government corporation meant for providing financial assistance to the backward class farmers to purchase small goods vehicles like Tata Ace. The money siphoned was used to provide high-profile luxury SUVs to the NCP leaders. But he never accepted the responsibility when the chairman of the corporation went to jail instead. No vehicles were recovered or confiscated from the leaders of the party.
He manipulated the perceptions of the workers of NCP and other political parties against the RSS and kept them away from RSS even in the circumstances of natural calamity. Pawar even manipulated the 2019 Vidhan Sabha mandate by 'influencing" Uddhav Thackeray to part ways with BJP (the pre-poll alliance) and create a government with the parties rejected by the people.
He had time and again issued open derogatory statements insulting the BJP leaders and some historians, writers and poets on a caste basis. He time and again keeps giving statements that create a rift between different castes and create law and order tensions in the state. This he does while chanting the names of Shahu Maharaj of Kolhapur, Mahatma Phule and Dr BR Ambedkar – known in Maharashtra politics as "Shahu Phule Ambedkar narrative".
The manipulations he influenced or applied in public life would be a subject of a large book that will run into thousands of pages at least. The Habitual Manipulator now wants to manipulate the Narcotics Bureau and the Enforcement Directorate through his series of press conferences and public statements. He issued a statement supporting the son-in-law of NCP minister Nawab Malik, who was in the custody of the Narcotics Bureau for possession of drugs and links with the underground drug network. He has opposed the actions of the Narcotics Bureau by openly saying that it's them who "planted" drugs on a Bollywood celebrity's son caught with drugs on a cruise. He already issued statements to the press calling ED and CBI to ease their stance, calling them "politically motivated."
Now the people of Maharashtra are fully aware of the power games of Pawar and his habit and power of manipulations. The public now asks sharp questions through social media, which he should answer honestly.
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