Mumbai: On 17 June, 1999, the undivided Nationalist Congress Celebration (NCP) adopted its structure and appointed its first set of workplace bearers. The assembly, held at Mumbai’s Shanmukhananda Corridor, had began at 10.10 am.
And that’s how the get together’s image got here to be a clock, exhibiting the time 10.10 am.
On Tuesday, the Election Fee of India (ECI) gave the image to the faction of the NCP led by Ajit Pawar, Baramati MLA and nephew of get together founder Sharad Pawar, following a vertical cut up within the get together. The next day, it additionally gave the Sharad Pawar-led faction a brand new interim title — NCP – Sharadchandra Pawar.
The NCP suffered the cut up when Ajit Pawar walked out of the get together with a majority of MLAs in tow, rebelling in opposition to his uncle. He joined fingers with the ruling coalition of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Celebration (BJP), and have become a deputy CM within the Maharashtra authorities.
The clock holds significance for each factions of the NCP, leaders from each factions advised ThePrint. For the Sharad Pawar faction, the clock is a personification of their chief himself. For the Ajit Pawar faction, the clock stands for what it did in 1999 when the undivided NCP was launched after a cut up from the Congress. It signifies the altering political occasions, leaders from the Ajit Pawar faction say.
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Indicator of political timing
When Sharad Pawar fashioned the NCP in 1999, after strolling out of the Congress, he initially needed the image of a ‘charkha’ (spinning wheel) to mirror the get together’s Gandhian ideological roots. Nevertheless, the ECI rejected the request and allotted the get together a clock as a substitute.
Leaders from the Sharad Pawar faction stated that whereas the clock was not the get together’s first alternative for a logo, there couldn’t have been a logo that describes the octogenarian’s character higher.
An NCP MLA who wished to not be named stated, Sharad Pawar has at all times been one of many uncommon politicians who “respects” time.
“He uses every waking minute productively. All his appointments run on time. He is never late to a commitment. He values his own time and respects the other person’s time too,” the MLA stated.
His political timing has additionally at all times been correct, leaders from his faction say.
“Pawar saheb has always known when to take a political decision and shake things up,” a functionary from the Pawar-led NCP stated.
In his over five-decade-long political profession, Sharad Pawar has typically been hailed because the king of coalitions in Maharashtra. He has fluidly modified pals and foes in response to the political realities of the day. He had uprooted Maharashtra’s very first coalition experiment by changing it together with his personal.
In 1978, the Congress (I) comprising the supporters of former PM Indira Gandhi and a breakaway faction, Congress (Urs) headed by D. Devraj Urs, had fashioned a post-poll coalition authorities within the state with Vasantdada Patil because the CM. Relations between the 2 sides had been uneven and inside months, a insurgent group led by Sharad Pawar toppled the delicate alliance.
A lot later, in 2019, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), too, was his creation. The MVA is a coalition of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), the Sharad Pawar-led faction of the NCP and the Congress.
Leaders from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP argue that the clock being indicative of the correctness of a frontrunner’s political timing will be argued in case of nephew Pawar as nicely.
‘Same clock, new time’
A functionary from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP who switched sides with the Baramati MLA from the Sharad Pawar-led get together stated that when the NCP was fashioned in 1999, leaders had been popularising the clock image with a sentiment, ‘Navin vel, navin survat’ (a brand new time, a brand new starting).
The NCP’s political fortunes surged shortly. The image reached each family of Maharashtra, and the get together tasted electoral success and three consecutive phrases in energy within the state in a coalition with the Congress.
Nevertheless, within the 15 years of its existence, the get together’s efficiency has been rangebound. The NCP’s electoral presence in Maharashtra and the Lok Sabha is nearly the identical because it was within the get together’s preliminary years, its nationwide footprint has shrunk and the get together has not been in a position to broaden a lot past its quick turf of Western Maharashtra and Marathwada.
The clock is nearly symbolic of the undivided NCP’s place, frozen in time.
The above-mentioned NCP chief from the Ajit Pawar faction stated that is the narrative that the get together needed to alter when it selected to insurgent in opposition to the Sharad Pawar-led NCP. “Since July 2023, we have maintained that the clock stands for ‘Ghadyal tech, vel navin (same clock, but in a different time).”
Mahesh Tapase, spokesperson of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP, stated that the clock signified the satisfaction of each get together employee related to the get together and had additionally turn out to be a logo to “oppose the dictatorial policies of the current government.”
“But ultimately the symbol is an electoral indicator. Way back in 1999 it was difficult to propagate the symbol. Now with the advent of social media, it is not very difficult to popularise a new symbol,” Tapase stated.
However political commentator Pratap Asbe will not be so positive.
Chatting with ThePrint, he stated, “Among rural voters, people colloquially say ‘ghadyalala mat dila’ (I voted for the clock) instead of saying the party’s name. Ahead of the Lok Sabha election, popularising the new symbol to that extent is going to be an uphill task for the Sharad Pawar-led faction.”
Asbe recalled that in 1999, too, when the get together had simply been fashioned, it had bought the clock image proper earlier than the Lok Sabha election. “The party had still put up a good performance. Sharad Pawar seems to think that if they did it then, they can do it again now. But, at that time there was no rival faction. This time, the presence of a rival clock symbol is going to create confusion in voters’ minds.”
Within the 1999 Lok Sabha election, the NCP in its electoral debut had received eight seats, with a 2.27 p.c vote share.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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