Veteran Congress leader and socialist thinker Ratnakar Mahajan dies at 80

Ratnakar Mahajan, the veteran Congress leader, socialist thinker, and political analyst, has died at his residence in Pune at the age of 80.

Mahajan had been suffering from a brief illness and had been unwell for several days before his death on Saturday morning, according to his close associates. His family confirmed that his final rites would be performed at the Vaikunth crematorium in Pune.

His passing ends a public career that spanned more than five decades, during which he became one of Maharashtra's most distinctive and independent intellectual voices. Originally from Indapur taluka, Mahajan moved to Pune as a young man to pursue higher education, quickly immersing himself in the city's vibrant student politics and social movements.

He built his reputation through active involvement with grassroots socialist organisations, including the Yuvak Kranti Dal, the Rashtra Seva Dal, and the Bharat Jodo Abhiyan. When Indira Gandhi declared the Emergency in 1975, Mahajan's political activism led to his imprisonment, cementing his standing among the state's prominent socialist voices.

As Maharashtra's politics shifted over the following decades, Mahajan's own journey reflected those changing currents. Originally aligned with the Janata Dal fold, he crossed over to the Congress party in the early 1990s alongside fellow socialist leader Babanrao Pachpute.

In 1999, when Sharad Pawar broke away from the Congress to form the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Mahajan chose to go with him. He became a key figure in the new party and served as the executive chairman of the Maharashtra State Planning Board.

But Mahajan was never a conventional party loyalist, and his most famous political intervention came in 2010. In an open letter to Pawar, Mahajan argued that the historical reasons for the NCP's creation in 1999 no longer existed. He suggested that the NCP should merge back into the Congress, pointing out that there was no real ideological difference between the two organisations, which were already running the state government in coalition.

The proposal provoked strong reactions and fury within the NCP, leading to Mahajan's resignation. He returned to the Congress, where he spent his final years serving as a senior spokesperson and vice-president of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee. He also edited the party's Shidori magazine and remained a regular commentator on state affairs.

Paying tribute, Maharashtra Congress leader Harshwardhan Sapkal said Mahajan's intellectual depth and social commitment would remain an inspiration. "The profundity of his thoughts, his commitment to society, and his ideological guidance will forever remain inspiring. His demise has caused a great loss to Maharashtra's social, political, and ideological spheres," Sapkal said.