Athawale, always an enfant terrible
I REALISED IT WAS THE PERKS OF THE OFFICE THAT MATTERED TO RAMADAS ATHAWALE MORE THAN A PARLIAMENTARY SEAT
my photo? Aren’t you going to publish my pictures in your newspaper?” he once asked me when I went to speak to him about the Dalit position on the cow slaughter bill first raised by the Shiv SENA-BJP government in 1996 in Maharashtra.
“You already are very famous and we have plenty of your pictures on file,” I replied, a little surprised. His vanity, however, was confirmed when one of his supporters chased after me as I was leaving and said Athawale had some freshly-taken pictures sitting and swinging on a jhoola, and it would be nice if we could use those pictures rather than ordinary mugshots with the story.
It may not be very flattering to say this, but after he had swung to the Shiv Sena in search of a parliament ticket, one from among his group of fast-depleting supporters once told me that, that all that Athawale wanted now was an office of member of Parliament – for things like signing on requests like gas cylinders, landline telephones, etc, before much of these MP quotas became redundant with changing laws in the country.
“Last time he got used to the crowds that milled around his office because he came at a smaller price than other MPS. But he made up in terms of economies of scale as people far preferred his easycome-easy-go style and there were no strings attached to his sanctions, unlike with other MPS,” the supporter said at the time.
That was as damning an indictment as any of Athawale’s commitment to self and perks as is his most recent unthinking statement that he is unaffected by rising fuel prices because as an MP he gets all his petrol for free. Yes, of course, Mr Athawale. But that ‘free’ comes out of our pockets – hard-earned tax-payers’ money that we sweat and slog for, in the heat and dust.
Also, I wonder how well has Athawale been influenced by the party he cohorts with that he now calls for a 25% reservation for upper castes in government jobs. Dalits are already eyeing Marathas suspiciously for making a similar demand. Now they must look at Athawale with double suspicion. Has he lost his sensitivity to the less-privileged completely?