Celebrations turn into NCP show
Thousands of hapless commuters were stranded on the road and there were traffic snarls all along the route.
By TNN |
MUMBAI: Even before it could recover from the celebration of the 10-day-long Ganesh festival, life in the city was thrown out of gear again on Wednesday, thanks to Sharad Pawar & Co's decision to parade Dhoni's team through 30-km-long pot-holed roads from the airport to Wankhede stadium.
Thousands of hapless commuters were stranded on the road and there were traffic snarls all along the route. The team's cavalcade was proceeding slowly resulting in huge traffic blocks along the route. In south Mumbai, traffic was frozen almost for 30 minutes. The entire stretch of Marine Drive had turned into a parking lot.
More than cricket, the event turned out to be an opportunity for all and sundry politicians to bask in the cricketers' glory. Even at the felicitation, the front rows were occupied by Sharad Pawar's associates and friends while the winning team members were pushed back. The over-presence of politicians, however, didn't go unnoticed. "Poor chaps, trying to hog in reflected glory," said an elderly person at Wankhede stadium.
The politicisation of the function was perfect as no senior Congress leader was seen at the Wankhede stadium while NCP leaders of every size and stature had crowded the event. It’s certainly no coincidence that Sharad Pawar, who heads the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), an apex cricketing body, also heads the NCP.
The political division was so evident that the state chief minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, who had announced earlier Rs 10-lakh cash reward for Mumbai players Ajit Agarkar and Rohit Sharma, preferred to stay away from the mega event.
NCP workers had put up posters having only two faces on it: their boss Sharad Pawar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Other political parties, too, did their bit, but they could not match the efforts of the NCP. The otherwise-aggressive Shiv Sena workers were pushed on the backfoot.
More than cricket, the event turned out to be an opportunity for all and sundry politicians to bask in the cricketers' glory. Even at the felicitation, the front rows were occupied by Sharad Pawar's associates and friends while the winning team members were pushed back. The over-presence of politicians, however, didn't go unnoticed. "Poor chaps, trying to hog in reflected glory," said an elderly person at Wankhede stadium.
The politicisation of the function was perfect as no senior Congress leader was seen at the Wankhede stadium while NCP leaders of every size and stature had crowded the event. It’s certainly no coincidence that Sharad Pawar, who heads the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), an apex cricketing body, also heads the NCP.
The political division was so evident that the state chief minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, who had announced earlier Rs 10-lakh cash reward for Mumbai players Ajit Agarkar and Rohit Sharma, preferred to stay away from the mega event.
NCP workers had put up posters having only two faces on it: their boss Sharad Pawar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Other political parties, too, did their bit, but they could not match the efforts of the NCP. The otherwise-aggressive Shiv Sena workers were pushed on the backfoot.
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