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...

min read

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 politics at crossroads yet again

Abhijit Mulye

Jan 28

3 min read

**Governor Acharya Devvrat, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde arrive to pay their last respects to Ajit Pawar in Baramati.**

Mumbai: Ajit Pawar’s sudden death has thrown Maharashtra’s fragile post 2023 political arithmetic into flux. The immediate question is whether the two NCP factions will merge — stabilising both the Centre and the Mahayuti in the short term — or whether a split realignment will strengthen the BJP at the expense of a distinct NCP. Local power centres in Mumbai and Pune will be decisive in the coming weeks as party legislators and state leaders weigh options.

Presence of Ajit Pawar’s faction within the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) played the role of a dependable NDA ally, lending numerical strength and political legitimacy without demanding a visible share in power. In Maharashtra, where coalition arithmetic remains delicate, the calculus has been far more strategic. BJP’s decision to induct Ajit Pawar into the Mahayuti alliance was widely viewed as an effort to balance Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena faction and prevent any single ally from dominating the coalition. This triangulation has helped the BJP maintain leverage while ensuring the continuity of the state government.

Postponed Reunion

For months, there were strong indications that the two NCP factions—one led by Sharad Pawar (NCP-SP) and the other by Ajit Pawar—were exploring the possibility of reunification. Political analysts suggest that such a move was deliberately deferred, reportedly at the behest of the BJP, until after the local body elections. With the untimely demise of the prominent NCP leader, the political environment has shifted yet again. The emotional and organisational vacuum has revived discussions around reunification, succession, and long-term positioning of the party within Maharashtra’s power structure.

Scenario One: Merger and power-sharing within the NDA

Among political observers, the most discussed—and arguably most stable—scenario involves a merger of the two NCP factions followed by their formal accommodation within the NDA and the Mahayuti. In such an arrangement, senior NCP-SP leaders like Supriya Sule and Jayant Patil could take on roles at the Centre and in the Maharashtra government respectively.

This outcome would offer multiple advantages. For the BJP, it would consolidate numbers, reduce internal coalition friction, and neutralise the Pawar factor by integrating it rather than confronting it. For the NCP, reunification would restore organisational coherence and protect its identity while retaining access to power. For the state government, it would likely translate into greater stability, particularly as Maharashtra moves toward crucial electoral milestones.

Scenario Two: Sharad Pawar resists alignment with the BJP

The situation becomes considerably more complicated if Sharad Pawar chooses to remain outside the BJP-led arrangements. Such a decision would deepen the fault lines within the NCP. In this scenario, several legislators—MLAs, MLCs, and even MPs—from Ajit Pawar’s faction may opt to directly join the BJP to safeguard or enhance their political futures in both the state and at the Centre.

While this could strengthen the BJP numerically, it would come at the cost of hollowing out the NCP as an independent political force. At the same time, not all leaders from either faction may find direct absorption into the BJP politically or ideologically comfortable, particularly those with strong regional bases built under the NCP’s banner.

Scenario Three: A separate NCP within the NDA framework

If resistance to a merger with the BJP remains strong among elected representatives, a third option could emerge: the NCP continuing as a distinct entity within the NDA and Mahayuti. This arrangement would preserve the party’s separate identity while aligning it with the ruling coalition at both levels.

Such a model, however, would require careful power-sharing and constant negotiation, especially given the BJP’s dominant position. It would also test Sharad Pawar’s willingness to accept a reduced, non-central role within an alliance led firmly by the BJP.

Pawar Question

At the heart of all these scenarios lies Sharad Pawar himself. Should the party he founded insist on aligning closely with the BJP without a decisive leadership role for him, Pawar may choose to step away from active politics rather than operate as a subordinate partner.

An announcement of retirement, while symbolic, would mark the end of an era in Maharashtra politics and accelerate generational change within the NCP.

Road Ahead

For now, Maharashtra’s political future remains open-ended. The choices made by the Pawar family, the calculations of the BJP, and the aspirations of NCP legislators will together determine whether the state moves toward consolidation or further fragmentation.

What is clear is that every possible outcome carries implications not just for Maharashtra, but for the broader balance of power in national politics as well.

The BJP’s Ganesha Gambit

Maharashtra politics at crossroads yet again

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