The death of Dr Ratnakar Mahajan at 80 is a great loss for the Congress party and political discourse in Maharashtra.
Mahajan was not originally a Congress loyalist. His roots lay in the socialist movement in Maharashtra. Being a socialist, he was a rationalist to the core, always making it a point to clearly state that he was not a relative of BJP stalwart Pramod Mahajan, and that they happened to share the same surname Mahajan.
There are ideologues who are rigid and then there are ideologues who are free-flowing—who are a great source of information and knowledge for a political journalist. Mahajan was one such ideologue who did not stay away from the masses. Perhaps this could be because of his roots in Rashtra Seva Dal and Yuvak Kranti Dal—the very movements in which children and youth became committed socialists.
Born in a village near Indapur in the Pune district, Mahajan had undertaken a padayatra to raise awareness about farmers' issues in Pune before the Emergency was declared. He opposed it and spent more than a year in prison. Eventually he joined the Janata Party, which was a mixture of socialists, jansanghis (predecessors of the BJP), communists and even anti-Indira Gandhi Congress supporters.
Mahajan was executive president of the Maharashtra State Planning Board for two terms when he was with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) under Sharad Pawar's leadership. But as the BJP began capturing ideological space in Maharashtra, he realised he ought to be with the Congress in order to defend democracy, the Constitution, and socialist principles.
After joining the Maharashtra Congress, he was made its Chief Spokesman. His press briefings used to be a treat to listen to, as he spoke on all issues local to global in a very eloquent manner. He used travel to Mumbai from Pune by the Deccan Queen, an iconic Express train, and returned to Pune via the same train in the evening. The three hours spent travelling often saw him engrossed in reading thought-provoking books on economics, politics, and international relations.
Sharad Pawar was the first big leader to visit Dr Ratnakar's house on learning about his death. They were close colleagues and Pawar considered him to be a thought leader.
Mahajan always had a soft spot for leaders who came from social reform movements, as he too had risen through the ranks in such a manner.
He was also the Editor of the Congress party’s Marathi magazine Shidori, during which time he used his pen to take the party's ideology to not just its workers, but also the wider masses.
With his demise, Maharashtra has lost one of its foremost thought leaders and intellectuals in the political sphere.
