The 2024 Lok Sabha election had its fair share of shock results, and the defeat of the senior BJP leader and former Maharashtra Cabinet Minister Pankaja Munde from her family stronghold of Beed would certainly count among them. The daughter of the late Gopinath Munde, the BJP’s first mass leader in Maharashtra, her loss was attributed to the Maratha vs non-Maratha polarisation. Six months later, with polling in the Maharashtra Assembly election scheduled for November 20, the situation has not changed much on caste lines, but the BJP is strongly pushing non-Maratha cards in the campaign.
Elected as a Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council in July this year, the OBC leader is one of her party’s popular campaigners across the State, particularly in Vidarbha, Marathwada, and North Maharashtra. In an interview with Frontline at her residence in Parli of Beed district in the Marathwada region, she said that her campaign was focussed on issues of development. Excerpts:
This is the first election in a decade where you are not a candidate. How is the response to campaigning for other candidates?
I don’t feel that I am not a candidate. I have to appeal in several constituencies to vote as if I am the candidate. So, I don’t feel I am not contesting. Rather, I was looking forward to take up the organisational responsibility and devote time entirely for it. I am getting a huge response all over and I can sense it.
The lotus (BJP) symbol is missing from the Parli Assembly constituency for the first time in almost four decades. Do you feel sorry?
Of course I feel sad. It is my father’s constituency. I have been here since I was a toddler. For the past five years when I had nothing, the workers remained by my side. Thousands joined me when held a meeting to campaign for Dhananjay [Munde of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), also her cousin]. They felt sad too. But I appealed them to campaign for the clock [NCP] symbol, thinking it is the lotus.
Is your party worker worried about your political future?
Every worker would worry about the future of their leader. My job is to reduce that fear as we don’t know what the future has to offer.
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Has the situation changed in Beed district after the Lok Sabha election?
I am campaigning in all seats in the State. But I am sure we will win Parli and all other seats in Beed district.
But just a few months ago, you lost in the Lok Sabha election.
I do not think about the past. I am for the future. I lost by 6,000 votes only despite such a terrible condition. Technically, I won. The situation has changed, yes, and it has changed for the better: to the extent that we will win the State once again.
According to you, what were the reasons of the Lok Sabha debacle?
The biggest reason was a fake narrative. It was about many things, including the Constitution. But it is not working anymore, and people are not going to vote merely to defeat someone. They know that development will take place because of good people. People want a State government that will work under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
Pankaja Munde (centre) during an election campaign in support of party candidate Madhuri Misal from the Parvati constituency ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly election, on October 5, 2024. | Photo Credit: PTI
Do you agree with the new narrative “Batenge to Katenge” [if we are divided, we will be slaughtered] being peddled by your party members in Maharashtra?
Frankly, my politics is different. I won’t support it just because I am of that party. My belief is that we should work on development alone. A leader’s job is to make every living person on this land as our own. Therefore, we need not bring any such topic to Maharashtra.
The leader who said it did so in a different context and in the political situation of that land. The meaning of that is not what we are using in Maharashtra. PM Modi ji has given justice to everyone. He did not see caste or religion when he gave ration, housing, or cylinders to people.
Is the BJP relying on its old strategy of OBC consolidation in this election? The proof of it being you are campaigning all around?
This is not the first time when I am travelling across the State as a star campaigner. My focus has always been developmental policies and issues and to seek votes only on that. In the early days, my father the late Gopinath Munde, the late Pandurang Fundkar, Anna Dange, and others gave a Bahujan face to the party. They made combinations that are needed in politics. Those political changes were positive ones. They brought common people into politics and we are taking forward that legacy. Working for the downtrodden, oppressed classes cannot be termed as a strategy but it is who we are ideologically—that’s our core.
Is the BJP indulging in caste-based campaigning?
That’s not true. It is natural for a leader to campaign in an area where he/she has a large following. Every party does it. That does not mean we are doing caste-based campaigning. I think this is being looked at differently after the Lok Sabha [election].
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Is it true that [Deputy Chief Minister] Devendra Fadnavis is not campaigning in Marathwada?
I don’t know who plans his rallies. We have a war room which decides where the rally will be held. Devendra ji follows the same procedure. He addressed a rally in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and now he will campaign in Nanded. I really have no time to check where he is addressing rallies.
Is falling prices of soya bean becoming a political issue in this election?
It is important to know that certain things depend on the international market. There could be a way out of this where farmers are given certain subsidies if rates fall below the MSP [minimum support price]. It will change the picture.
Do you think that the rebellion in Beed district would harm your chances?
Not only Beed, but across the State. And not only within us, but even the MVA [Maha Vikas Aghadi, the opposition bloc] is facing the same. I don’t belong to Beed alone now. I am an MLC and belong to the entire State. Rebellion is because people are eager to contest. But we have managed to curb most of it.
Do you eye a bigger role in State politics?
I can’t say this now. My seniors will decide my role after the election. Even in the past five years, I never expressed any discontent in my speeches or interviews. It was all a media creation. When people asked me why I was not getting the position, I told them it was a party decision and we have a culture to accept party decisions. We never expressed unhappiness.
