Politics dominates Ganesh Chaturthi as Maharashtra gears up for assembly polls

While Mumbaities enthusiastically celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi, the politicians too, this time, seem to be keen on making most out of this festival with an eye on upcoming assembly election in Maharashtra, scheduled for October this year. This year onward, the developers have backed out from giving donations to the Ganesh pandals as many redevelopment projects have been stuck in the city for over a year. The pandals across Mumbai are now dependent solely on the politicians for the funds for the festival. The 10-day long Ganesh festival, which marks the birth of Lord Ganesh, will continue till Anantha Chaturdashi on September 9. According to the Brihanmumbai Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Samanvay Samiti (BSGSS), an umbrella body of Ganesh mandals in the city, there are a total of 11,400 Ganesh pandals across the city. Each pandal on an average spends around Rs 7 lakh on organizing the 10-day festival and the total turnover estimate of all pandals is over 800 crore in Mumbai during this time. [caption id=“attachment_1692075” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational Image. Reuters[/caption] Speaking to Firstpost, president of BSGSS Naresh Dahibawkar said, “The donations have been reduced by 40 percent given the fact that redevelopment projects in the city have been stuck for more than a year and many developers have backed out from giving huge donations. Also, the political leaders have avoided putting up the banners and posters which have affected the revenue of the pandals,” said. He added that the pandals can now get funds only through the events organized by the pandals and sponsored by a few political leaders. “In the recent few years, the festival has been much politicized. So, all the politicians make sure they use the platform to reach out to the public. The NGOs or other organizations controlled by the politicians are also advertising,” he explained. Pandals, that are allowed to put up banners and posters around 100 meters of their area, can earn a lot of revenue through it. The Mumbai civic body has stalled the proposed banner policy, which mandates complete ban on political banners throughout the year. Although during the festival, such a mandate is not followed and political leaders put up numerous self-appraising posters to show their presence and might. “Due to the uncertainty over the model code of conduct, the number of banners and posters has reduced significantly this time compared to last year. But, under the guise of NGOs, the politicians are giving huge donations to the pandals and also distributing pamphlets projecting their leaders to the people visiting the pandals,” said Bhai Dukhande, a trustee of a Ganesh Pandal in South Mumbai. Dukhande also added that the politicians are sponsoring other events such as dance, rangoli, drawing and cooking competitions to provide funding to the pandals. “The commercialization of the festival in last few years is also helping us in getting huge money. The festival is now being used to flaunt money power and muscle power which can be used for politics,” he said. An office bearer of a pandal from south central Mumbai pointed out that the politicians are helping the pandals in getting the insurance cover and estimate of such insurance covers goes into crores of rupees. The political leaders, who are wary of the model code of conduct, which is likely to come into force on Thursday, are playing safe to avoid coming under the scanner of the Election Commission. “It seems the model code of conduct will either come on Thursday or once the Ganesh festival is over. It won’t come up in the middle of the festival due to religious sentiments and the law and order situation. If it comes after the festival, it will be a golden opportunity for us to make most out of it,” said a cabinet minister from Maharashtra government. A few sociologists say that the politicians in Mumbai would use every possible trick to get mileage from the festival. “In the light of elections, the politicians are waiting for this opportunity to make their presence felt in the area. The politicians will try to reach out to the people by hook or crook. They will also distribute huge money irrespective of the code of conduct to secure their position since this election is do or die for them,” PG Jogdand, head of the department of sociology in Mumbai University, told Firstpost.