00:00In Sharadrao, there is also a quality of a farmer.
00:09A farmer gets an idea of the weather quickly.
00:15He is a politician through and through, in the best sense of that term.
00:41If I remember correctly, the date, just around 6th or 5th December, he took over as the Chief
00:56Minister and in less than a week, the series of blasts took place in Bombay, which is known
01:04as Bombay Blast.
01:34And I remember very well, he had brought all the crops from Gujarat.
01:41What crops are grown in this area, what are the priorities of the farmers, your farmer
01:46is slowly moving towards cotton.
01:49And he was explaining to me, look brother, you take leadership and meet the farmers,
01:56explain to them that cotton is fine, but the country needs wheat.
02:01And explain to your farmers in Gujarat that they should go towards wheat and you do something
02:06for me.
02:07This feeling, this commitment for his work, this commitment, I understand that if there
02:15is a minister, then letters will be sent, messages will be sent, officers will call,
02:20but doing this work as your own work, this commitment.
02:26If you meet Sharad Rao anytime, if you talk to him for 10 minutes, even in cricket, once
02:37I was involved in the world of cricket and he was also involved, so I had to meet him
02:41because of that.
02:42If we talk about cricket for 8 minutes, then for 5-10 minutes he used to talk about the
02:47farmers.
02:49If we talk about cricket, we have to talk about cricket, but he used to talk about the
02:56farmers immediately.
02:57So from the traditional point of view, the way we have seen the farmer, Sharad Rao,
03:03the way we have seen the farmer from a different perspective, this was his way of talking.
03:07And I think that his, all these, if you meet him anytime, and say the word sugarcane,
03:15he will explain it to you for an hour.
03:18All the letters are with him.
03:21What to do with sugar, how much to export, what to do, all the things are with him.
03:28And one thing used to come out, that as a good administrator, his identity used to spread
03:35all over.
03:37And Mumbai, which is the city that gives life to our economic life, a period came,
03:47a whole decade came, where the underworld somehow destroyed the life of Mumbai.
03:56And a dark atmosphere was visible, that if Mumbai is in the hands of the underworld,
04:02then what will happen?
04:03And I say that Sharad Rao had the courage and his skill that he saved Mumbai from the
04:09underworld.
04:11He brought it out.
04:13This was his capability.
04:15And there was no hesitation.
04:18Sharad Rao's specialty is that he does not hesitate in doing what he believes.
04:24Once I went to Israel with him.
04:28We were together for many days.
04:32So he used to tell me one thing, that Mr. Modi, your problem is that you are more image
04:38conscious.
04:42You don't care, do whatever you want to do.
04:46Because he had his own conviction.
04:48That brother, whatever is there, I have to do it and I will keep doing it.
04:53Sharad Pawarji has a record of enduring achievements in whatever positions he has occupied.
05:02And we would need much more than just this one function to enumerate them and celebrate
05:12them all.
05:14He was, of course, Chief Minister of Maharashtra four times.
05:19And he is still remembered for his leadership then and his effective administration.
05:29He was Defense Minister and more recently he was Agriculture Minister for a record 10
05:37years between 2004 and 2014.
05:44No one else could have been in that crucial position for such a long time.
05:50He was a natural choice.
05:52In fact, he was the only choice.
05:59I have known him for more than two decades.
06:03We may have differed on some occasion, perhaps on many occasions, as any two individuals
06:13would do in a democratic system.
06:18But what has always been there, what has always been constant, is our respect for each other
06:29and the mutual belief that the legacy of our founding fathers should be protected, preserved
06:38and promoted.
06:40He spoke up with passion for more profitable MSPs.
06:46It was during his tenure that production in rice and wheat reached record levels.
06:55His friendships with his political opponents and adversaries are legendary.
07:02In the modern language of IT, his networking skills are formidable.
07:11And those skills are much needed when politics takes on a bitter partisan flavor as it does
07:25quite often.
07:28He is a politician through and through in the best sense of that term.
07:40No tribute to Sharad Pawarji can be complete without a reference to his fondness for cricket.
07:50Not many know that his father-in-law, who tragically died at a very young age, was a
07:59leg spinner who played seven test matches for India.
08:04Perhaps this could have been one influence on him, apart from the fact that he has spent
08:23so much of his life in Mumbai, which has been the cradle of much of our cricketing talent.
08:32Whatever it is, he has given to Indian Cricket Administration the famed Sharad Pawar's expertise.
08:46And I still remember, because I had a very small side role, while Ahmed Bhai was negotiating
08:55with him about the portfolio and other things, to my utter surprise, the former Defence Minister
09:03of India suggested that he would like to have Agriculture Ministry.
09:10And when I left active political life on being elected to the office of the President of
09:23the Republic, I recognised how wise his decision was, because if today India is the second
09:37largest producer of wheat and rice in the world, and converting the country from a net
09:45importer to net exporter, a substantial contribution has been made by him.
09:54Over the last ten years, continuously holding this important ministry.
10:02Sharad Pawar ji, I knew him over decades.
10:07Though before 1984 he didn't come to Central Politics, he mainly confined his activities
10:14in Maharashtra as one of the youngest Chief Ministers of this country.
10:20When he first became Chief Minister in Maharashtra in 1978, he was not even 40.
10:28He was just 38.
10:30I think at the age of 27 he entered into Maharashtra Assembly.
10:36And since then till today, there is no interruption in his legislative life, either in Assembly
10:46or in Parliament.
10:49And I have no doubt after two years, he will provide us an opportunity to facilitate him
10:55on the completion of his 50 years of legislative life, which speaks his acceptance to his people,
11:08the confidence which he enjoys on the people of this country.
11:16If I remember correctly the date, just around 6th or 5th December, he took over as the Chief
11:26Minister, and in less than a week, the series of blasts took place in Bombay, which is known
11:34as Bombay Blast.
11:36And without any wastage of time, he brought back normalcy in the economic nerve centre
11:48of India, which was appreciated by ever-critical media, and they particularly chose a phrase
12:02which still I remember, Salaam Bombay.
12:05Salaam Swarup Pawar ji, Salaam Bombay.
12:08Many more happy returns of the day.
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