Chhagan Bhujbal: Chequered past, bleak future

Former deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, Chhagan Bhujbal represents the phenomenal rise of a first generation politician who used a heady mix of power politics and financial clout to create his own financial empire over the years.

His chequered political career spanning over four decades is full of political skulduggery, rhetoric, drama, sudden turns and twists. A close scrutiny of his political career also throws light on how Maharashtra, once a Congress citadel has become fragmented into four major political parties.

Bhujbal is a classic case of an urban boy who was moved by charismatic speaker Balasaheb Thackeray, joined the Shiv Sena, worked hard and grew along with Shiv Sena which increased its influence in Mumbai city. On becoming a die-hard Sainik, Bhujbal never looked back.

The errand boy who helped his mother sell fruits and vegetables in Byculla market, acquired his survival skills on Mumbai streets. During his two-year diploma course in mechanical and electrical engineering at the VJTI, Mumbai, he showed his acting skills which later became handy to influence large audiences with innuendos and sharp attacks on rivals. Very few know that he stood first in an acting competition while Sholay fame Amjad Khan stood second during his diploma days. He left mid-way after a year.

Those who worked with him in his initial days with the Sena recall that he was a ruthless, risk-taking youth, completely loyal to Balasaheb. With Balasaheb’s blessings, his rise through the ranks of the Sena was fast. After becoming a corporator in early 1970s he was made Mayor of Mumbai city for two terms in the late 1980s and early part of 1990s giving him enough opportunity to brush shoulders with all the high and mighty of the commercial capital of the country, icons of Bollywood, and doyens of Indian cricket as well as captains of the Indian corporate world.

He established himself as a firebrand Sena MLA in the state legislature representing Mazgaon assembly constituency. He would bring down the entire House single handed with his political theatrics. He was instrumental with his new found identity as OBC messiah in spreading Sena influence in the hinterland of Maharashtra. He felt cheated when he was denied leader of the opposition post in 1990. Taking a political stand against Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray for opposing Mandal commission’s recommendations for OBCs, he walked out of Sena with 12 Sena MLAs engineering the first ever split in Sena during the winter session of the state legislature.

Incidentally all these defectors including Bhujbal lost the next assembly elections.

Though he survived in the Congress as a minister, it took him one decade to stage a comeback to the legislature as Sena opposed him with all its resources in order to ensure his defeat. Even in the Congress camp he remained restless due to his overambition. He could not succeed as he never understood the internal power dynamics within the Congress party. When Pawar was thrown out of the Congress and set up his new political outfit, Bhujbal sided with him and remained his loyal soldier providing the OBC support base in a party dominated by Maratha stalwarts from the cooperatives sector.

Meanwhile, Bhujbal, mauled by the Sena in Mumbai, went back to Nasik district from where his family hailed, in search of his roots. He got elected from Yeola constituency, his nephew Sameer became Nasik MP and his son Pankaj became an MLA. Pawar rewarded him by appointing him as deputy chief minister and handed over the prestigious home department. He became overambitious and ruthless and created one more controversy by trying to arrest his political mentor Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray for his fiery speeches delivered after the demolition of Babri Masjid. He even surprised Pawar who had excellent personal relationship with the Thackeray family with this move. No Congress Chief Minister, not even Shankarrao Chavan, a strict disciplinarian, had ever tried to arrest the Sena chief despite his provocative observations.

His handling of the home department became controversial; he soon got himself embroiled in the multi-crore Abdul Karim Telgi fake stamp paper scam. He was eased out of the department but he survived the thorough investigation into the scam. 

 While his political career kept oscillating between good and bad during the last two decades, his financial empire built around MET in Bandra kept rising as reflected in the returns he filed after every election. His assets grew from Rs11.9 crore in 2009 to Rs21 crore in 2014. His friends and foes were envious of his financial empire. Being a metropolitan Mumbai person, he was more flamboyant than his rural counterparts in the political milieu. Though other politicians remained more discreet about their financial dealings, Bhujbal was never cautious and rather took pride in his strides in the financial world.

When whistle-blower crusader Anjali Damania and BJP MP Kirit Somaiya began raising questions over his dealings and financial transactions, he brushed the allegations aside as politically-motivated, baseless charges.

Bhujbal finds himself politically isolated as the long arm of the law is taking its own course to deal with his shenanigans. The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) bureau has raided his and his close relatives and associates’ properties and have registered two FIRs. The Enforcement Department is looking into some other transactions of his companies. He has claimed that the ACB is defaming him and his family by providing a false and inflated value of his properties to the tune of Rs2,500 crore. But ultimately he will have to go through the legal process and get a clean chit from the courts. Former Maharashtra Chief Minister AR Antulay had taken 11 years to get a clean chit from the Supreme Court in the cement scandal case and by then he was almost finished politically.

Overambitious Bhujbal, who knew his political clout as a OBC messiah, failed to realise the internal dynamics of power politics in Maharashtra where the Maratha community is well-entrenched and controls the levers of power. He will have to deal with many agencies probing alleged irregularities in allotment of a prime plot at Kalina in Mumbai to a developer and for large-scale irregularities in the construction of the new Maharashtra Sadan in New Delhi. Sharad Pawar has taken his own time to come to Bhujbal’s rescue by saying that state authorities are selectively pursuing cases against NCP leaders. Bhujbal has a tough time ahead as it is not the state authorities but the court who has asked the investigating authorities to file the information. The question being discussed in the corridors of power is whether the ACB investigation will end with Bhujbal or is it just a beginning.

Other NCP stalwarts involved in alleged scams will also face difficult situations.

The author is columnist, author, artist