With Assembly polls due, netas set to capitalise from Dahi Handi

While the Dahi Handi festival in Mumbai has been much politicised in last few years, political leaders have been trying hard to score brownie points under the guise of human pyramids. With the Bombay high court stepping in to regulate the Dahi Handi festival, a cloud of uncertainty and negativity has taken over the festival. However, the politicians are set to cash it on the festival since it is the last public festival before the code of conduct comes into force for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections. [caption id=“attachment_1667735” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A human pyramid during Janmashtami celebrations. PTI[/caption] Citing the fatal accidents during the celebrations, the Bombay High Court had directed the Maharashtra government to restrict the height of human pyramids to 20 ft., while banning the participation of children below 18 years in the festival. Subsequently, NCP leader and medical education minister Jitendra Awhad filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the order. The SC then, putting the high court order on hold, reduced the ban, thereby allowing children above 12 years to participate in the festival. “You just can’t take out individual’s liberty to play a game. We have (the) right to expression,” said Awhad, whose Sangharsh Pratishthan organises a much-publicised Dahi Handi event in Thane, speaking to Firstpost. “I have been organizing the event for the last 25 years and not on the eve of elections. I started organising the festival when I was not in politics.” The Dahi Handi festival, popular in Maharashtra, is held on Janmasthami, the birthday of Lord Krishna, every year. It involves forming a human pyramid and breaking an earthen pot filled with buttermilk which is tied at a height. Krishna Hegde, a Congress legislator from suburban Mumbai said that the event helps to increase the popularity in the area. “I have been organising the Dahi Handi festival since the last two years. It is a very helpful medium to connect with the people. I am not sure how much it will help in upcoming assembly elections but it really helps in increasing the popularity of the organisers in the area,” said Hegde, who had cancelled the Dahi Handi event following the HC order but is now organising it after the subsequent SC order. He further said that such events help to spread a social message in the society. “We also organize Navratri and other festivals. Many celebrities, who come to the events on good will, endorse the social message, which helps in creating awareness among the people,” Hegde added. “We use the opportunity to showcase our clout, rejuvenate the cadre and reach out to voters in our constituency. We also have to give huge funds to the local mandals to be in good terms with them. Since last few years, the political leaders are organising the dahi handi festival in each constituency to keep their base intact. The festival will surely help us for the upcoming election as it has come just few days before the elections,” said an MNS leader wishing not to be named. Sociologists say that the politicians are capitalising the event for their own political interests. “All the political parties will play the same game of capitalising the event in the name of culture. All the political parties, by hook or crook, will project their political interests, achievements and agenda for the upcoming elections. With the judicial intervention on the issue, the political leaders have got a boost to make different kinds of preparedness for the event. Since a lot of money is involved in it, political leaders will try to reach out to their voters,” PG Jogdand, head of the department of sociology in Mumbai University, told Firstpost.