The nomination of Amol Mitkari to the legislative council by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has an inspiring story to tell. A young boy from a poor family, who ran a small daily needs shop, rose to become a legislator without any financial, family or caste support.
Amol may be the first to have become a legislator without political clout or financial power in just one year of joining the NCP. Belonging to the Lingayat caste in the OBC category, he was born in a poor family in 1982 in the Akola district of Vidarbha, Maharashtra. He lost his father at an early age. Having less than three acres of rain-fed agricultural land, his family opened a small daily needs shop in their village Kutasa located in the Akot tehsil of Akola district to make ends meet. Young Amol began running this shop.
He would read the articles published in the newspapers, which he would later use to wrap the things being sold. The Maratha Seva Sangh, an organisation founded in Akola district, interested him. This organisation played a major role in propagating the real history of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and the ideology of Mahatma Phule, Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.
“He attended several programmes of the Maratha Seva Sangh. He studied all the major books on Shivaji Maharaj’s history and the Phule-Shahu-Ambedkar ideology. He studied all the religions and their key books. He also worked with the Akhil Bhartiya Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti (an organisation working for the eradication of superstitions),” Purushottam Aware Patil, editor of Matrubhumi, a local Marathi daily in Akola said. He then started speaking on the history of Shivaji Maharaj and became a highly popular orator in the next few years.
Meeting Ajit Pawar
After a brief political journey in the newly formed parties related to the Sambhaji Brigade, he decided to join NCP in May last year. He met Ajit Pawar, the nephew of Sharad Pawar, on May 16, 2019. After an internal discussion, he was appointed as the general secretary of the party. He was eager to show his oratory skills to Pawar. When the Shiv Swarajya Yatra was started by NCP to expose the alleged misrule by Devendra Fadnavis, its star attraction was the then NCP MP Udayan Bhosle and popular TV star Amol Kolhe. When this yatra reached Washim, a neighbouring district of Akola, Amol got an opportunity to speak for 10 minutes and he impressed all the leaders.
Meanwhile, Udayan Bhosle left the NCP and Amol Mitkari replaced him. His speech got massive support and applause from the public. His aggressive attack on the then ruling party made him a star campaigner during the assembly election. He was given a special helicopter to campaign. He addressed rallies in 65 assembly constituencies and more than 30 candidates won the election.
