Pawar shedding crocodile tears over Maharashtra droughts

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar, on April 4, exposed himself to criticism by saying that severe drought in parts of Maharashtra was a greater issue than the slogan of "Bharat Mata ki jai". The former Union minister was replying to Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis' controversial statement that those unwilling to say Bharat Mata ki jai have no right to stay in the country.

"The Constitution doesn't say that it's compulsory to chant Bharat Mata ki jai. As of now, the issue of greater concern is the drought and this should be dealt with urgently," Pawar said in Solapur.

However, Pawar, a Rajya Sabha MP, does not have any moral right to put the drought in Maharashtra over the Bharat Mata ki jai slogan. He should have thought twice before making the comparison because of the following six reasons:

1. Influential posts held

In his long political career, which still continues, Pawar has been the Maharashtra chief minister for four times. In 1978, he broke away from the Congress to form a coalition government with the Janata Party, becoming the chief minister of the state for the first time.

He was sworn in to the post on three other occasions subsequently - in June 1988, March 1990 and March 1993. Pawar also served as leader of Opposition in the 12th Lok Sabha in 1998. After the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, he joined the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government headed by Manmohan Singh, as the agriculture minister. He continued in the ministry during UPA II as well.

Despite that, Pawar has not been able to ameliorate the drought condition of the state. Even though he shares a large part of the blame for the drought in the state, he took part in a drought-hit farmers' rally in Osmanabad district of Marathwada in 2015.

2. Multi-crore irrigation scam in Maharashtra 

In 2009, Sharad Pawar's nephew Ajit Pawar cleared 32 irrigation projects worth Rs 20,000-Rs 25,000 crore as state irrigation minister without allegedly going through the procedures. Clearances to projects include those for the Krishna Valley Development Corporation in western Maharashtra with seven dams.

After the sanction, the cost of the projects were increased and given approvals. Just in Vidarbha, the cost of 38 projects was increased by 300 per cent between June and August. In 2012, chief engineer in the state irrigation department Vijay Pandhare wrote a letter to the irrigation secretary alleging that the modus operandi included sanctioning projects at a lower cost and then escalating it systematically under the pretext of increase in height or widening of the reservoir.

3. No water to parched areas from eastern rivers

During the long years in power, Pawar's NCP held key portfolios, including irrigation and electricity, in the state. However, even these sectors failed to make any progress. Despite hailing from Baramati, he did not get water for parched areas of Beed, Osmanabad and Latur. He failed to get water of the western rivers diverted to the eastern region. His rivals accuse him of not commissioning a survey for the purpose.

4. Water for sugarcane in Baramati

Pawar is accused of being partisan with respect to his constituency, but at the cost of others. The state's second biggest dam Ujani has been providing water for the area since its inception in 1980. Of its 117 TMC (thousand million cubic metre) of water, 60 TMC is being "illegally" diverted to sugarcane fields, creating acute water shortage in hundreds of villages in eight talukas of Solapur district. Besides, it is alleged that a Rs 12,000 crore-worth project on river Bhima was initiated by Pawar in order to get adequate water supply for the sugarcane crop in his hometown of Baramati.

5. Water to soft drink companies

Former state agriculture minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil has been alleging that water is being supplied to mineral water and soft drink manufacturing facilities and has demanded that it should be suspended and the water diverted to homes and farms. As a minister, he had written a letter to the then chief minister Prithviraj Chavan in 2013. "Pawar even gave the water meant for irrigation to the soft drink companies and the entire Maharashtra knows it," he said.

6. 'Pawar opposed the idea of artificial rain'

The administration in the Marathwada region toyed with the idea of cloud seeding for artificial rain but failed. While one account states that the clouds in the region were not developed and dense enough to be used for artificial precipitation, Pawar's rivals blame him for the miscarriage of the idea.

Vikhe-Patil alleged that while he was in power, the NCP president let Marathwada remain drought-affected. The Congress leader alleged that Pawar had opposed the idea of artificial rain when he was in power but is now showing interest in the region.