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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.

‘Maharashtra Epstein Files’ to hit screens on Oct 2

Quaid Najmi
May 28
3 min read

Mumbai: Come October 2, Maharashtra’s dark secrets known to the Nashik Bhondubaba, Capt. Ashok Eknathrrao Kharat – currently in custody - may now explode on the silver screen.

 

A prominent film director Swaroopp  B. Sawant has announced a new Marathi crime thriller, “Maharashtra Epstein Files” which threatens to rip open the sleazy and exploitative world of Kharat before it started crumbling in March when his murky deeds tumbled into the public domain.

 

An online poster release proclaims the film – presented by Jain Film Production and Matoshri Entertainment World - which has triggered a political quake even before the cameras start rolling in June.

 

Well-known actress and Shiv Sena leader Deepali Sayed claimed today that “political pressures have already started building” on her. “Some women leaders called me up and warned me against playing the role of Rupali Chakankar. This could destroy my political career, and they asked me to wait and reconsider,” said Sayed in a social media post on Thursday.

 

Unfazed, Sayed said she will meet Deputy CM Eknath Shinde and MP Dr. Shrikant Shinde, but is determined to act in the film after studying the role and characterization.

 

The film is being produced by Devendra Bhat, Suryakanth Bhunde and Prashant Kadampure, while Sagarkumar S. Jain is the story writer with screenplay and dialogues by Sanjay Navgire.

 

The director Swaroop B. Sawant was more forthcoming and appeared passionate about the upcoming venture.

 

“This is a fictional film inspired by certain contemporary events. The purpose of the film is to break myths surrounding the fake godmen who exploit people. We aim to shatter ‘andhashraddha’ perpetrated by such elements and promote ‘shraddha’ (faith),” Sawant told The Perfect Voice.

 

He said Sayed will portray the role of the controversial Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Rupali Chakankar, but the plum role of Kharat to be essayed by a big name from Bollywood, which will be revealed next month.

 

“The film will have most other characters played by Hindi film actors… It will convey a social message of ‘Karma’ which  catches up with all. It shall have other popular ingredients of a masala movie – an item number featuring a Bhondubaba gyrating with a nautch girl, a love song on the 'original whistle-blower' and his wife, plus other songs,” smiled Sawant.

 

Hit Poster 

While the film and its fate after the release coinciding with Gandhiji’s birth anniversary is awaited, the eye-catching promotional poster has already become ‘superhit’ in the industry and social media.

 

It shows a mysterious man standing with his back turned, hands clasped behind him and gripping bundles of Rs. 500 notes. He is dressed immaculately in kurta-pyjama and a half-jacket, giving an impression of being a respectable person. However, the yellow crime-scene tape criss-crossing his image gives away the real story.

 

On a wall ahead in a dimly-lit room - akin to a police lockup - are cryptic photos with ‘?’ marks, others referring to ‘Nashik’ and ‘Bhondubaba’, a copper water vessel, a glass of ‘cutting chai’, a bottle of ‘Elish Honey’ (allegedly hawked by Kharat for lakhs of rupees to his unsuspecting victims), and ironically a bookshelf complete the promos.

 

Aking to its tagline – “Now, Everything Will Be Exposed” – but without taking any names, the film poster is like a one-image trailer that vows to yank the curtains off a shocking nexus of blind faith, political power, money muscles, women’s exploitation and social influence, unmasking many a bigwigs.

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