People lived and died for his words. And the foreign ruler was forced to leave...'' Readers did a re-take. It wasn't the grand old Indian National Congress that nudged at public memory. ``Now is the time to reaffirm this pledge and stand united against the threat of foreign rule,'' went the smaller copy in the second part of the ad.

A quarter-page ad, it featured the Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar and its symbol of table-clock at the very bottom. The NCP was clearly - and cleverly - using the opportune date to rub home its message to Congress President Sonia Gandhi. In one swift stroke, Pawar was associating his Congress with the original one that popularised the phrase in 1942 but investing it with an altogethernew meaning in the current context.

This was the second media hit from NCP quarters in less than two weeks. On August 1, the occasion of Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak's birth anniversary, appeared the first ad declaring ``Swarajya is my birthright''. The copy spoke of the value of independence with all the right phrases and pauses associated with the century-old slogan. It was, indeed, the legendary one-liner that Tilak gave to a fighting diaspora of patriotic Indians but the sub-text advocated the cause of the NCP.

The third in the series is on its way - typically on August 15. It will play out the same theme of calling to memory some of the oldest and tip-of-the-tongue phrases to underscore the point that Gandhi's Congress is no longer the Congress of the yore associated with the fight for India's Independence. Instead, it is Pawar and his NCP that reflect the values, traditions and political ideology of the old Congress.

This blatant use of national occasions to promote a political party and scorepoints over a rival has, expectedly, not gone down well with the Congress at all. Congressmen are miffed that the NCP is blatantly, some say shamelessly, associating itself with the battle-cry and slogans given by the stalwarts of their party purely for electoral benefit in the forthcoming General and State Assembly election. ``It's like stealing somebody's line and then using it against that very person,'' pointed out a senior party leader.

The NCP is, of course, elated that the ads have provoked the Congress and have hit where it hurts the most. Developed by a local firm, the basic idea and story-board originated from the party's think-tank in Mumbai itself.

``We have made the point about foreign ruler without really saying anything obvious,'' smiles state chief Chhagan Bhujbal. The NCP is keenly awaiting reactions to the third of the series too.

However indignant Congress leaders are, they are not thinking in terms of an ad war. Besides, it would involve seeking permission and sanction from the highcommand when the message has gone out that party leaders are discussing and finalising a complete media campaign with a top-notch ad agency. But they cannot close their eyes to the two ads that have appeared.

So, there's some mumble-jumble about getting a legal opinion and the like. ``It's not correct at all. Their intention is clearly political. Besides, those who could not defend their symbol with the Election Commission (EC) cannot claim any legacy with the Congress heroes,'' said general secretary Kripa Shankar Singh.

Legal opinion may be futile for the Congress can hardly claim copyright over the phrases `Quit India' or `Swarajya is my birthright'. Indeed, these phrases are associated in the public consciousness with the party, even if in an oblique way but legal copyright is another matter altogether. The primary obstacle, according to analysts, is that these two phrases were declared and popularised by the Congress as slogans well before it was registered as a party with the EC unlike the '70sslogan `Garibi Hatao' that was given by a post-Independence and EC-registered Congress.

The Congress can only sit back and wait for the third hit now, it seems. Meanwhile, the NCP think-tank is having the last laugh. It's still early days for the battle of the ballot but the war of words had already begun.