Page 8 - Seniors Today Dec 2019

Cover Story

The last man

standing

From being practically written off to
wielding the whip hand in Maharashtra’s
leadership tussle, Sharad Pawar beats all the
odds. Can one decode the enigma?
Sujata Anandan gives it a shot

Sharad Pawar defies both age and illness. a countdown to the last minute permitted to
Soon after he was diagnosed with oral Pawar to continue with his speech.
cancer more than a decade ago, while he was “I have to make my points to the people,” he
campaigning in 2004, still under medical told me when I asked him about why he was
treatment, he had himself discharged early from pushing the medical limits. ”They have been
hospital so he could hit the campaign trail. waiting patiently for hours to hear me. I cannot
When I caught up with him in Latur, he told let them down.”
me, pointing a finger at his neck and then at his
feet, “From here to here, I am ok. Just fine.” Raining surprises
Then he swung his finger from his chin to Since then his oral cancer has been contained
the top of his head. “But from here to here, but he brought the same spirit of defiance to
sometimes I am in terrible pain.” his age when during the October assembly
Yet he would not give up campaigning. He elections this year, he campaigned in Satara
travelled with a doctor in tow who monitored in pouring rain, soaked to the skin even while
his blood pressure, administered medicines to
him from time to time and allowed him on stage
with the strict admonition that he could speak
for only 20 minutes at a stretch.
Pawar was used to addressing six to eight
campaign meetings a day. These were cut down
to four at the most. But at every meeting he
defied the doctor’s orders. Invariably, Pawar
would exceed his doctor’s warning and caution
even as the frustrated medic would frantically
signal to Pawar from the front of the dais, point
to his wristwatch and hold up his fingers in Sharad Pawar continues to defy expectations
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