Analysis: Shifting Political Ideologies, Discontent In Maharashtra Politics

On Wednesday, the mood at the Pune NCP (Sharad Pawar) office was unlike that of the earlier elections. The air of excitement was replaced by uncertainty. Jagtap Prashant, the city chief and a two-decade-old party worker, was to have a crucial meeting with Supriya Sule to discuss his future. 

The chatter of the two NCP factions coming together is getting louder in Western Maharashtra. 

As this fortress of the NCP is slowly being breached by the BJP, the primary contest here is between the BJP and Ajit Pawar-led NCP - both constituents of the Mahayuti.

The ideological opposition alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi, said Prashant Jagtap, should counter these rival parties.

That, however, was not to be the case.

"I was extremely conflicted about what stand I should take. I am not someone with any addiction that would help me suppress or escape this anxiety," said Jagtap, moments after resigning. 

After the Thackeray cousins, now Supriya Sule and Ajit Pawar are also looking to end their bitterness - all to safeguard their home turf. 

Pune will go to polls with 28 other municipal corporations, as a part of the second phase of local polls in the city. In the first phase, Ajit Pawar's NCP won 38 mayoral positions as against seven won by his uncle's party, making this desperate move in Pune, almost unavoidable for the rival faction. 

When Sharad Pawar formed the Nationalist Congress Party in 1999, he brought with him several young, ideologically driven workers. Between then and 2025, the NCP has managed to remain in power, directly or indirectly, for most of its existence. But in the process, ideological purity steadily eroded.

For leaders who went on to occupy higher positions in state or national politics, this dilution may not have mattered.

But for Jagtap, who joined the party at the age of 21 and remained with it until his resignation at 47, crossing that ideological line was unacceptable.

Yet, this is not merely an NCP problem; lately, it appears to be a Maharashtra politics problem, if it can be termed a problem at all.

"Don't talk about ideology in Maharashtra. The state's politics have changed. Everyone needs power now. Everyone has kept ideology aside," Ajit Pawar said in 2024, ahead of the Vidhan Sabha elections, when asked how he fits into an alliance with the Hindutvavaadi BJP-Shiv Sena combine.

It is rare for a senior, active leader to admit this so bluntly.

But Ajit Pawar was not far from the truth. Maharashtra's politics has undergone a profound transformation over the past few decades, with ideology becoming highly malleable and discarded for convenience.

'Swarajya', 'Dalit', 'Hinduhridaysamrat', 'reservation', and 'Satyashodhak' are not just political keywords; they originated through Maharashtra's socio-political movements, before and after the formation of the state. Few states have balanced ideological commitment with mass mobilisation as effectively as Maharashtra did once upon a time.

The roots of this tradition go back to the 17th century.

In an era soaked in bloodshed, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj articulated the idea of rule by the sons of the soil, without erasing the religious identity of his political opponents.

That legacy of ideological pride and social purpose survived for centuries. It appears broken now.

Political fallouts and "unnatural" alliances are not new to Maharashtra.

In 1978, Sharad Pawar broke away from his ideological roots to form a government with the Janata Party.

What sets the current phase apart, however, is frequency. Earlier, what was once-in-a-decade disruption has now become the norm.

Take Dharashiv nagar panchayat polls, for instance.

At the national level, the BJP's principal rival is the Congress. Yet during recent municipal council elections in Dharashiv, posters surfaced featuring Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, and Eknath Shinde, the BJP's closest ideological ally, all smiling. The posters soon went viral.

Similarly, in Kolhapur, both factions of the NCP came together in Chandgad and Kagal. Kagal, in particular, is a telling case.

Hasan Mushrif and Samarjit Ghatge had fought a bitter election barely a year ago, framed as a contest between the legacy of Shahu Maharaj and the brute force of money and power. Seeing them share the same stage so soon is a telling comment on the kind of politics being practised.

The roots of this dilution can be traced back to 2014, when the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance came to power. The Congress and NCP were expected to function as clear ideological counterweights after losing office. Despite the saffron alliance having a comfortable majority, the NCP extended external support, clearly compromising on its founding principles.

Five years later, the Shiv Sena, whose national political identity was closely tied to the Babri Masjid demolition, joined hands with the Congress and NCP to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi under a Common Minimum Programme. While the BJP ridiculed this alliance relentlessly, it eventually went on to ally with Ajit Pawar's "secular" NCP itself.

While opportunistic politics may yield short-term gains, it risks long-term erosion. In his second term as Deputy Chief Minister within the Mahayuti, Ajit Pawar appears to struggle to justify his alliance with his big allies. His ministers are routinely undermined by workers from allied parties, and even when local BJP leaders openly challenge his authority, his position to counter appears limited.

A politics devoid of ideology may secure Ajit Pawar a few key posts in future elections, but can it arrest the steady erosion of his party's political space in Maharashtra? Perhaps not.

Besides the obvious farcical nature of this situation, it also appears to have dampened voters' interest in electoral activities.

But voters are not alone in this predicament; even ideologically driven workers, like Prashant Jagtap, find themselves forced to leave the space to 'escape the anxiety'.