Ganesha Festival has no political agenda. The festival creates social harmony but the State Government is hell-bent on dividing the society
Guru Prasad
Ganeshotsav had played a very dominant role during the Independence Movement. It had united the people of Bharat to fight against the Britishers. But in Independent Bharat the local bodies and the State Government of Karnataka are trying to divide people in the name of Ganeshotsav. Year after year, new draconian rules are being imposed by the State Government on Ganesha Mandals. Fed-up of these draconian rules, the Ganesha Mandals in the city got united to protest against what they call anti-Ganesha rules.
Addressing the protestors, Prakash Raju, general secretary of Bengaluru Mahanagara Ganesha Utsav Samiti said, “If the State Government kept on coming with such rules, then it would become impossible to hold the festival. I wonder why only we are being targetted for organising this festival which is actually a secular festival as a person from every religion takes part in it.”
The protestors alleged that the local bodies say that they won’t permit all those Ganesh Mandals to organise the function where the Ganesha idol is above five feet tall. “I don’t understand the logic. If you look at Mumbai, Pune or Hyderabad, huge Ganesha idols are displayed for public which draws big crowd. Why should only we be restricted? If this was not enough, we are asked to get permission from a number of authorities. If we go to the Police, they ask us to go and get permission from the Electricity Department and if we go to the Electricity Department, they ask us to first get permission from the Police. Both these Departments play hide and seek with us and we oscillate between the two Departments. And even if we manage to get permission from these two Departments, then they will ask us to get permission from local body. We are literally tired of these restrictions ,” said another protestor.
The VHP treasurer Nagendra Prasad said, “These rules are nothing but a conspiracy to stop us from organising Ganesha Festival. We have a number of restrictions even during the visarjan ceremony of Lord Ganesha idols. No basic facilities are provided provided to us during the Ganesha pujan and even during visargan of the idol. We have been told that we should not go for decorative lighting while there is no such restriction for processions by other communities. In Karnataka, there are instances every year, where the devotees of Lord Ganesha are attacked by other communities especially during the processions and the Police always fail to provide security to them.”
Swami Anand Guruji, a popular seer who was part of the protest said, “We warn the State Government to stop atrocities against the Ganesh Mandals.”
Later speaking to the protestors, Prakash Raju said, “We are proud to say that Bal Gangadhar Tilak introduced the idea of Ganesha Festival in public platforms. The Ganesha Festival which was earlier limited only to homes was organised publicly. This created a new platform for national unity. Today, Ganesha Festival is known for unity. The festival is also synonymous with cultural diversity and tolerance. The festival creates public harmony but the State Government is hell bent on dividing the society. Let me reiterate that organising Ganesha Festival is our birth right and no one can stop us. By organising this protest march, we want to tell the Government that we have every right to organise this function. We are free to choose the height of the Ganesha idol; be it 10 feet or 60 feet and no Government official has a right to restrict our programmes. We wonder why these officials are least bothered in providing basic facilities for this festival.”
Nagendra Prasad further said that , “We are forced to avoid certain routes during the procession. We are told that we cannot take those public roads which are close to masjids. The public roads are for everyone and nobody can stop us from using them. I also urge the State Government to stop filing false complaints against the organisers of Ganesha mandals.”
Anand Guruji gave numerous suggestions to the Ganesh Mandals as to how to organise the festival. He said, “We have asked mandals to add more religious fervour to the programmes related to Ganesha Festival. We have requested them to avoid the usage of plastic. The Ganeshotsav day should begin with the hoisting of the saffron flag and also by inviting everyone to the mahamangal arati. The Ganesh Mandals should also give prominence to organise a lot of cultural programmes and encourage the local talent.”
