top of page

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.

Ramanujan, the Wizard of Numbers

Writer: Yogesh Kumar Goyal
Yogesh Kumar Goyal
Apr 25
3 min read

India’s great mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan was a globally acclaimed genius who made unforgettable contributions across various branches of mathematics, giving the subject a new dimension. His discoveries, such as the “Ramanujan Theta” and “Ramanujan Prime,” inspired researchers worldwide for further study and development. About a decade ago, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, while paying tribute at Ramanujan’s 125th birth anniversary in Chennai, remarked that such individuals of extraordinary talent and profound knowledge are born only rarely. Ramanujan is counted among those modern Indian figures who pioneered the pursuit of new knowledge on a global scale.


Born on December 22, 1887, in Erode, Tamil Nadu, about 400 kilometers from Madras, Srinivasa Iyengar Ramanujan’s childhood was marked by hardship and poverty. He did not begin speaking until the age of three, raising concerns among his family. Little did anyone know that this child would go on to achieve greatness in mathematics and be remembered for centuries. He showed exceptional interest in mathematics, often scoring full marks, but struggled in other subjects, as nothing captivated him like mathematics. Notably, he had no formal training in the subject.


Despite receiving the K. Ranganatha Rao Award for his extraordinary contribution, his obsession with mathematics led him to neglect other subjects. He even solved mathematical problems during other classes. As a result, he failed in all subjects except mathematics in his 11th-grade examination, losing his scholarship. With his family already facing financial difficulties, he took up a clerical job at the Madras Port Trust with the help of mathematician Ramaswamy Aiyer. Even during work, he would spend his free time solving mathematical problems on scraps of paper.


Leaving Impression

One day, a British official noticed his work and was deeply impressed by his talent. Through this connection, Ramanujan came in contact with renowned British mathematician G. H. Hardy of Oxford University. Recognising his brilliance, Hardy invited him to London and arranged for his admission at Trinity College, Cambridge. This marked the beginning of Ramanujan’s global recognition. Hardy placed him alongside great mathematicians such as Euler, Gauss, Archimedes, and Isaac Newton. In 1917, he was elected a member of the London Mathematical Society, and the following year, he was honored as a Fellow of the Royal Society. During his five years at Cambridge, he produced numerous research papers, primarily in number theory. In collaboration with Hardy, he published several important works, and for one of them, Cambridge University awarded him a B.A. degree.


The illustrious torchbearer of India’s rich mathematical tradition, Srinivasa Ramanujan, was not merely a story of genius but a remarkable example of resilience, self-belief, and unwavering dedication to knowledge. Despite limited resources, lack of formal education, and numerous socio-economic challenges, he left an indelible mark on some of the most complex domains of mathematics, showcasing the boundless potential of human intellect. Ramanujan’s contribution extends far beyond the thousands of theorems he formulated; he transformed the very way mathematics is perceived and understood. His formulas exhibit a rare elegance and simplicity, as if numbers themselves communicated with him. He demonstrated that mathematics is not just a discipline of logic and computation, but also a creative and intuitive art.


New Avenues

His discoveries—such as the Ramanujan theta functions, Ramanujan primes, and the partition function—opened new avenues in modern mathematics, physics, computer science, and cryptography. Even today, researchers continue to explore his work, and his mathematical legacy remains a profound source of inspiration for generations to come. Notably, many of his results were so advanced that their proofs were established only years later by other mathematicians. Ramanujan’s life teaches us that true talent does not depend on formal degrees or abundant resources. With curiosity, dedication, and determination, one can transcend limitations and create history. His journey is especially inspiring for today’s youth, illustrating that confidence and persistent effort can turn the impossible into reality.


At a time when India is advancing toward global leadership in science and technology, Ramanujan’s legacy reminds us of the importance of innovation, originality, and the relentless pursuit of knowledge. If the younger generation draws inspiration from his life and develops a deeper interest in mathematics and science, it will not only foster personal growth but also contribute significantly to nation-building. Ultimately, Ramanujan was not just a great mathematician but a symbol of India’s intellectual heritage, proving that true brilliance knows no boundaries. His legacy remains as vibrant today as it was during his lifetime, and the echoes of his ideas will continue to resonate across the global mathematical landscape for years to come.


(The writer is a senior journalist. He has authored several books.)

Comments

bottom of page