This time the 'Festival of Lights' ushered in fireworks of a different kind, at least in Maharashtra, with prominent ministers and leaders of opposition parties trying to make a political statement through their Diwali greeting cards. | |
| There was a Diwali card by Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh which loudly proclaimed the state as the 'jewel in the crown of India'. |
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| It also highlighted the state government's achievements on the development front. To counter Deshmukh's claims of the DF government's 'successes', the greeting cards distributed by Leader of Opposition in Legislative Assembly, Ramdas Kadam, spoke of government's failures on 12 various issues including farmers' suicides. |
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| Kadam's card also attracted attention for another reason. Its cover has a chariot, from Mahabharata, where Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray has been shown as Krishna and the charioteer, Kadam, as Arjun. |
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| "The target is unfurling the saffron flag atop Vidhan Bhawan," it says. BJP National General Secretary Gopinath Munde's Diwali card highlighted current issues and called for a `fight to end the darkness of fear, hunger and corruption'. The card, which is in Hindi, has used traditional Warli painting from the neighbouring Thane district. Energy minister Dilip Walse Patil's card is one of the few plain and simple ones among the several other cards with a political message. "The minister has implemented loadshedding here also," a recipient said. |
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| Forest Minister Babanrao Pachpute, who belongs to the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), has tried to spread the message of environmental awareness through his greeting card. The card carries Sant Tukaram's famous abhang `Vriksha Valli amha soyare' (trees are our relatives) to propagate forest conservation. |
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| He has steered clear of any political message, in the backdrop of his being pulled up recently by Pawar's nephew and state minister Ajit Pawar for his second avatar as a religious preacher. |
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| Sena leader and MLA Gajanan Kirtikar in his Diwali card has used a Marathi verse to underscore the importance of his 40-year-old party. |
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| "That is why we need Shiv Sena," the card says after highlighting some points. BJP city unit president Prakash Mehta has used his party's symbol `lotus' prominently in his Diwali card while avoiding to make a separate political comment. |
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