Vishal Jadhav’s voice breaks as he tries to find words. The NCP worker stands in Baramati on what should have been a day of political rallies and jostling crowds – four sabhas scheduled across the constituency for the Zilla Parishad elections. Instead, there is only silence. The party chief who was meant to address them, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, died in a plane crash this morning.

“We have lost our father. He was everything to us. We cannot imagine Baramati without Dada. Throughout his life, he worked tirelessly for the people of Baramati and Maharashtra. He was supposed to hold four sabhas here today.”

Ajit Pawar was traveling from Mumbai to Baramati in a private chartered aircraft. The other victims of the crash have been identified as Pawar’s personal security officer Vidip Jadhav, pilots Sumit Kapoor and Shambhavi Pathak, and flight attendant Pinky Mali. Within hours of his death, Baramati – Pawar's political fortress and the town he transformed over decades – has become a landscape of shuttered shops and silent streets. 

Gajanan Hagawane, a resident of Katewadi – Ajit Pawar’s native village – described the scene. 

“Everything has been shut down. Shops, sugar factories, gram panchayats and schools have all closed. People are in shock and deep grief. Dada (Ajit Pawar) had a very close connection with the people of Baramati, children, youth and the elderly alike. Everyone loved him. He worked for us all his life. Such was his nature that people trusted him completely. If Dada said yes to any work, no matter what obstacles came, that work would surely be done. This is an extremely difficult time for Baramati. We simply cannot imagine Baramati without him.”

Born on July 22, 1959, in Deolali Pravara village of Rahuri Taluka in Ahmadnagar, Ajit Pawar was the son of Anantrao Pawar and Asha Pawar. His father was the elder brother of Sharad Pawar, making Ajit the nephew of one of India’s most prominent political figures. But unlike other members of the Pawar family, Anantrao worked in the film industry, notably for V Shantaram at Rajkamal Studios. 

While Ajit Pawar’s grandfather Govindrao Pawar managed a farmers’ cooperative, it was his grandmother Sharda Pawar who began the family’s political journey. She became a member of the Pune local board (now known as Zilla Parishad) in 1936 as part of the Peasant Workers Party (PWP), a leftist organization. 

Just as Sharad Pawar was strongly influenced by his mother – though his politics differed markedly – Ajit Pawar was shaped by his uncle. His entire political career was developed and nurtured under Sharad Pawar’s mentorship.

Pawar completed his schooling at........

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