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By:

Rajendra Pandharpure

15 April 2025 at 7:55:54 pm

The BJP’s Ganesha Gambit

Pune’s Ganeshotsav has become an enormous civic and political stage, and the ruling party has proved adept at occupying it. Pune: The city’s Ganeshotsav is entering its final phase, but the festival has already demonstrated something beyond its extraordinary crowds and familiar spectacle: the extent to which it has become a political stage. This year, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has left a particularly visible imprint on the festivities, using an event that reaches deep into the city’s...

The BJP’s Ganesha Gambit

Pune’s Ganeshotsav has become an enormous civic and political stage, and the ruling party has proved adept at occupying it. Pune: The city’s Ganeshotsav is entering its final phase, but the festival has already demonstrated something beyond its extraordinary crowds and familiar spectacle: the extent to which it has become a political stage. This year, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has left a particularly visible imprint on the festivities, using an event that reaches deep into the city’s neighbourhoods as an opportunity for public outreach. The political appropriation of the festival has not, however, been without a counter-current. Demands were raised for curbs on noise pollution, loudspeakers and the volume of dhol-tasha performances. The argument was not against Ganeshotsav itself, but for moderation - notably, a complete ban on DJ music and limits on the number of dhol and tasha instruments used by performing troupes. Familiar Troubles The festival’s reality has been rather different. Major roads have been occupied by mandaps. Processions celebrating the arrival of Lord Ganesha have unfolded amid punishing noise. DJ music, while subject to restrictions, has continued. Traffic congestion has become a familiar feature of the festival, with the movement of political leaders adding another layer to the city’s already strained roads. The Peth areas have remained crowded deep into the night. The Shrimant Dagdusheth Halwai Ganpati temple has drawn enormous crowds for darshan from the opening day. From the old city to housing societies and neighbourhood mandals, Ganeshotsav touches virtually every part of Pune. For a political party seeking a direct connection with citizens, few occasions offer such a ready-made network of people, institutions and local influencers. The BJP enters this festival with an unusually formidable organisational base. It has two MPs, seven MLAs and more than 100 corporators in Pune. Murlidhar Mohol, one of the city’s MPs, is a Union Minister of State. Chandrakant Patil is a Cabinet minister in the Maharashtra government, while Madhuri Misal is a Minister of State. The party’s presence also extends into the festival’s organisational architecture. Its influence is visible across numerous mandals, large and small. BJP MLA Hemant Rasane is General Secretary of the Shrimant Dagdusheth Halwai Sarvajanik Ganpati Trust. Kunal Tilak, a member of Lokmanya Tilak’s family, is a BJP corporator. The political and cultural histories of Pune therefore intersect in ways that are difficult to ignore. The BJP’s senior leadership has also made the most of the occasion. National President Nitin Nabin visited Pune to seek Lord Ganesha’s blessings, while Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis visited the city before and during the festival. Such visits are about more than religious observance. In a festival watched by millions and embedded in the city’s social life, political visibility comes almost automatically. There is also talk in Pune that the BJP provided substantial financial support to Dhol-Lezim troupes and their organisers, with claims that some major mandals received financial backing as well. These claims would require independent verification, but the perception itself points to the depth of the political contest around Ganeshotsav. BJP workers, according to local observers, have also sought to make their presence more conspicuous than that of festivities organised by housing societies. Useful Expedient The festival arrives at a politically useful moment for the BJP. The party has faced disquiet on several fronts. Young people have been agitated over the paper-leak controversy. Broader public dissatisfaction has been voiced over inflation and unemployment, while government policies relating to ethanol and charges associated with UPI transactions have also generated criticism. While a political party can defend a policy in a press conference and advertise its achievements, during Ganeshotsav, its workers can be physically present in neighbourhoods, among processions, mandals, cultural groups and devotees. Politics thus becomes less about argument and more about visibility. That is the BJP’s advantage in Pune. Ganeshotsav, after all, is not simply a sequence of religious rituals. It is an elaborate civic network involving local organisers, volunteers, cultural groups, businesses, residents and political representatives. Whoever has influence over that network acquires a powerful channel of communication with the city. The BJP appears to understand this particularly well. Its strength in Pune’s electoral politics has been reinforced by a presence that extends beyond elections and into the institutions and social spaces that organise public life. The irony is that the very scale of the festival that makes it politically attractive also magnifies the civic costs. The political value of Ganeshotsav and the civic burden it creates are therefore two sides of the same phenomenon. For Pune, the larger question is not whether politics has entered Ganeshotsav. It has done so for decades. The more consequential question is whether the festival’s extraordinary social capital will remain primarily a vehicle for political outreach or whether the same influence can be used to reconcile celebration with the ordinary civic needs of the city. For the moment, the BJP seems to have understood the first proposition better than most.

Fitoor: A Stage Beyond Words

Writer: Shreeya Sirinkumar
Shreeya Sirinkumar
Jun 12, 2025
3 min read

At St. Xavier’s, Fitoor is making theatre vital again, bringing method, meaning and madness to campus theatre.

Theatre is a celebration of storytelling and human connection. It is where imagination meets reality, and where emotions are brought to life. Fitoor, the Theatre Society of St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, stands as a testament to the will to bring dreams to the stage, to breathe life into stories. It is a haven for the passionate artistic souls who desire to reside in the timeless fabric of theatre. With the unending thirst to create, present and impress, at Fitoor, we aspire to create a platform for stories untold and to tread the well-trodden roads with novel perspectives.


In a nod to Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Fitoor is driven by its theme for the year 2025-26, ‘The Method to Madness,’ emphasizing the idea that there always exists a purpose behind expression, where impassioned actions are backed by rational motives.


Fitoor calls to showcase our truest, most expressive selves in witty and creative ways, embodying the spirit to do the unexpected, and to be, what has never before been. Geoffrey Nadar, Head of Fitoor 2025-26, describes Fitoor as “a driving force for the celebration and advancement of theatre; inviting new members to what is otherwise an underappreciated art form.”


We wish to present a stage for those who harbour this passion, regardless of experience. For those wishing to dip their toes into this art for the very first time, Fitoor is presenting ‘The Theatre Academy’ - a platform to learn and grow in the arms of theatre. For those already skilled in the art form, we wish to aid in their plunge into the professional sphere, through participation in various reputed youth festivals, such as ‘Thespo,’ India’s largest Youth Theatre Movement.


Theatre is one of the time-tested means to convey, and at Fitoor, we aim to utilise the persuasive nature of theatre to create change. Within the walls of our college, through various experimental forms of theatre such as ‘Theatre of the Oppressed’, we wish to enlighten students to the grievances of society and inspire them to take action through plays that highlight persisting social ills. In the world outside, we aspire to surpass the limits set on theatre by extending the art to communities that have been neglected “Khwahishon ke Parindey,” the acting workshop conducted in collaboration with ‘Access Life Foundation, Chembur’ marks the beginning of many such endeavours to create ripples of change that transform into lasting waves.


As the only theatre fest in Xavier’s with no language barriers, Fitoor emphasises the transcendence of art over linguistic constraints. What started as a small initiative, comprising a group of students who put out small skits and presented a platform for people to learn theatre—essentially serving as a stepping stone to the established departments of St. Xavier’s College–has grown multifold over the years. Fitoor's flagship event, ‘Jashn-E-Fitoor,’ has been a medium for the exploration of numerous genres–from swoon-worthy love stories, to murder mysteries that keep you captivated—as well as showcasing social and political issues in ways that resonate with the audiences and leave them contemplating.


Through our growth, we retain our purpose–to build a theatre culture in St. Xavier’s College which caters to people of different skill levels, an objective which is reflected in our events and workshops where we had the privilege of welcoming well-known names in the industry, such as Apoorva Mukhija, Dolly Singh, Raghav Juyal and Nikhil Taneja for Yuvaa Podcast-Be A Man Yaar, Vir Das and Trinetra Haldar Gummaraju, among many others.


We aspire to make Fitoor, the Theatre Society of Mumbai, as we grow beyond the Xavier’s campus. The collaboration of Fitoor’s ‘Karwaan’ and the ‘Poets of Mumbai,’ as well as upcoming collaborations with colleges and artistic organisations, are the first of many steps that will lead to expanding the boundaries of what Fitoor can achieve. There is also a focus on returning to our roots as we expand the society into a community of theatre enthusiasts.


As a primarily student-run organization, Fitoor has been through a roller coaster of phases over the years by showcasing the dynamic visions of the students. Each year has been marked by an extraordinary display of exuberance and creativity, knitting together the voraciously unique concepts. Across our journey, one purpose remains constant which is the desire to leave a lasting impression on all who experience the magic that theatre has to offer.

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