In a powerful address to party workers in Shirdi on Sunday, Home Minister Amit Shah hailed the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) recent victory in Maharashtra, claiming it brought an end to the era of political instability and betrayal that began with veteran leader Sharad Pawar in 1978.
“The victory of BJP in Maharashtra has ended the politics of backstabbing and instability that Sharad Pawar began in 1978. The people of Maharashtra have buried this type of politics deep underground,” said Shah, addressing a state BJP convention.
Shah’s remarks referred to a pivotal moment in 1978 when Sharad Pawar, then a Congress leader, broke away from the Vasantdada Patil government along with 40 MLAs to become Chief Minister. This was a key event in Pawar’s political rise, eventually leading to the formation of his own party, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). More recently, Pawar’s nephew, Ajit Pawar, caused further political upheaval by splitting the NCP in 2023 and joining the Eknath Shinde-led government, which includes BJP as a partner.
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The BJP’s strong performance in the 2024 Maharashtra state elections, where it won a record 132 seats, was touted by Shah as a mandate for political stability. “From 1978 to 2024, Maharashtra was subject to political instability. You have shown the way by establishing a stable and strong Devendra Fadnavis government,” Shah declared.
In his speech, Shah also targeted Uddhav Thackeray, leader of the Shiv Sena (undivided), for betraying the BJP in 2019 when Thackeray ended their alliance over the Chief Minister’s position. Shah accused Thackeray of abandoning the ideology of Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray and said, “Uddhav Thackeray betrayed us. He became Chief Minister through treachery, and today you have shown him his rightful place.”
Shah attributed the BJP’s success in the state to the party’s focus on “Hindutva and Modi ji’s politics of development,” and praised BJP workers as the true architects of the party’s victory across all levels. “You are the facilitators of this victory, from panchayat to Parliament,” Shah remarked, urging party members to make the BJP invincible and prevent any future betrayals.
The BJP, in alliance with Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s faction of the NCP, won over 230 of the state’s 288 assembly seats, securing a commanding victory over the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which secured only 46 seats. Shah concluded by emphasizing the long-term implications of the victory, noting that it had dealt a blow to the opposition alliance, INDIA, which was hoping for a win in Maharashtra following the Lok Sabha elections.
“Our opponents had hoped that after the Lok Sabha results, they would win in Maharashtra, but you have shattered those dreams,” Shah said.
