Ganesha Gambit

The BJP-led Mahayuti coalition’s announcement of officially designating Ganeshotsav as Maharashtra’s State Festival is leavened with political calculation ahead of the crucial civic polls. The official announcement made by BJP leader and Minister for Cultural Affairs, Ashish Shelar, was loaded with symbolism. In invoking Lokmanya Tilak’s historic 1893 call to transform a private ritual into a public celebration of nationalism, the BJP claimed not only the mantle of cultural stewardship but a strategic advantage in the high-stakes game of Marathi identity politics – a key factor in the struggle for mastery of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

It is no coincidence that this declaration arrives just as Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) and Raj Thackeray’s MNS are exploring a public rapprochement. The two cousins, once bitter rivals, have recently shared stages and slogans at events celebrating Marathi pride while testing waters for a possible alliance aimed at consolidating the Marathi vote in Mumbai. The BJP, allied with the Eknath Shinde-led breakaway Shiv Sena, is going all out to confront the Thackeray truce that could tilt the electoral balance in Mumbai’s Marathi-dominated wards.

By declaring Ganeshotsav a state festival and lifting curbs on PoP idols, the BJP is playing a canny cultural hand to outmanoeuvre its Marathi rivals.

The festival is a sprawling civic phenomenon. Thousands of community pandals draw millions of visitors, creating a parallel economy and a temporary grassroots leadership network that touches every street corner. For parties locked in competition for municipal corporations like the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Asia’s richest civic body, the pandals represent a critical vote bank. By wrapping itself in the saffron flag of Ganpati Bappa, the BJP is attempting to shore up goodwill among pandal organisers and traditionalist voters. Earlier this year, the Mahayuti’s reversal of the previous restrictions on Plaster of Paris (PoP) idols, long considered environmentally harmful, is expected to please thousands of artisans who had chafed under earlier bans.

While Uddhav’s Sena (UBT) and Raj Thackeray’s MNS rail against ‘outsider influence’ and talk of linguistic pride, the BJP is offering tangible benefits to stakeholders across the spectrum — artisans, pandal committees, traders and middle-class devotees. It is also claiming continuity with the historical legacy of Tilak, subtly implying that the Congress and its allies have drifted too far from their nationalist roots.

The BJP is naturally banking on the fact that it has the goodwill of Mumbai’s non-Maharashtrian Hindu electorate, especially Gujaratis and South Indians. Where Uddhav and Raj flirt with unity but lack clarity on future plans, the BJP appears to be executing a coherent plan by shrewdly binding cultural celebration to electoral logic. As Ganeshotsav approaches, pandals will rise, drums will thunder and political leaflets will quietly circulate under festive bunting. Behind the idol’s benign smile, however, lies a fierce contest for control of Maharashtra and Mumbai’s urban soul. The BJP, it seems, has chosen its deity, and its moment, with precision.