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Journalism of Courage
The two rival Shiv Sena factions got new names from the Election Commission on Monday: ‘ShivSena – Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray’ for the Uddhav faction, and ‘Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena’ (Balasaheb’s Shiv Sena) as the name for the Eknath Shinde camp.
While the Shinde camp has been asked to submit a fresh list of probable symbols by tomorrow, the Uddhav faction has been allotted a symbol – a ‘flaming torch’ (mashaal).
The factions had asked for the trident (trishul) and the mace (gada), which were rejected citing religious connotations. Both factions had also wanted the ‘rising sun’, which the EC pointed out was the DMK’s election symbol.
The Election Commission had frozen the Sena’s bow and arrow symbol on October 8, ahead of the November 3 by-election in the Andheri East Assembly seat, for use by both bickering Sena factions.
On Monday, the Thackeray-led faction approached the Delhi High Court seeking quashing of the order.
Why ‘flaming torch’
The Commission noted that the ‘flaming torch’ symbol was earlier allotted to the Samata Party, which was derecognised in 2004. The Commission said it had decided to list the ‘flaming torch’ as a ‘free symbol’ following the request from the Thackeray faction, reported PTI.
However, the Shiv Sena has old ties to the flaming torch symbol.
The party had won an election on the flaming torch logo way back in 1985, when the Sena did not have a dedicated election symbol.
Chhagan Bhujbal, the lone Sena MLA in the seventh Maharashtra Assembly, had won from Mazgaon constituency on the flaming torch symbol. Bhujbal and other Sena candidates, including former Chief Minister Manohar Joshi, in the absence of a dedicated symbol for the party, had opted for various logos to fight the election. The other symbols were rising sun, and bat and ball.
“I had chosen the flaming torch because it was a symbol of revolution and showed a new path to the people of Maharashtra,” Bhujbal told The Indian Express. Remembering the 1985 election, Bhujbal said the poll campaign then was largely based on wall paintings and the torch was easy to draw.
“We did not have money then to fight elections, so even I would do the wall painting. Drawing a flaming torch was the easiest. I drew that during my campaign and it was eye-catching for the voters. It led me to a historic victory. I was then the lone MLA of the Sena in the Assembly,” he said.
Bhujbal, now a senior leader with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), said that after his victory in the Assembly on the flaming torch symbol began the Sena’s journey of victories everywhere. “I am sure that this will be repeated for Uddhav Thackeray and the flaming torch symbol will take Shiv Sena to new heights in Maharashtra’s politics,” he said.
It was in 1989 that the Sena was permanently assigned the bow and arrow as an election symbol with recognition as a state party.
