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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.

The Hidden Cost of Greed

Writer: Divyaa Advaani 
Divyaa Advaani 
Sep 26, 2025
3 min read

In the world of business, money often becomes the most visible measure of success. Profits, revenues, and reimbursements dominate conversations. Yet, there is a subtler, far more powerful currency that shapes whether people want to work with you, trust you, or follow you: your reputation.


Consider this scenario. You’re offered the liberty to claim expenses — maybe as a senior executive in an organization or as a business owner working with a client who reimburses certain costs. The process is straightforward: submit your bills and get your money back. But somewhere along the way, temptation creeps in. You claim a little extra. Maybe you round up the numbers, or maybe you include something you technically didn’t spend on.


It may feel harmless — after all, “everyone does it.” But here’s the truth: every inflated claim, every unnecessary grab, chips away at your personal brand.


Why? Because your personal brand is not built only on stage or in the boardroom. It is forged in the choices you make when no one is watching.


For leaders, founders, and entrepreneurs, this truth carries even greater weight. People aren’t just observing what you achieve — they are observing how you achieve it. The employees who look up to you, the clients who invest in you, and the partners who place their trust in you are constantly forming silent judgments.


When they sense integrity, fairness, and restraint, they are drawn to you. They feel safe aligning with you. But when they see greed, shortcuts, or a sense of entitlement, it creates a ripple effect of doubt. They may not call it out immediately, but the story of who you are begins to shift. And that shift can cost you far more than a few extra reimbursements. It can cost you loyalty, respect, and influence.


This is the invisible economy of personal branding. The numbers you claim may boost your short-term balance sheet, but the impression you leave will define your long-term legacy. And in today’s world, legacy is the true measure of leadership.


Business is built on trust. Contracts, negotiations, and deals may look like transactions, but at their heart, they are acts of faith. A client who sees you stretching claims will wonder: Will they stretch promises too? An employee who watches you claim unnecessarily will ask: If my leader takes more than needed, why should I give my best?


These unspoken questions erode credibility, and credibility once lost is almost impossible to rebuild.


That is why the most successful leaders understand that restraint is not weakness; it is strength. Saying, “No, this isn’t necessary to claim,” or “I’ll only submit what I truly spent,” may seem small, but these actions accumulate into a reputation of trustworthiness. And trust is the foundation upon which influence, opportunities, and wealth are truly built.


Personal branding, at its core, is not about image — it is about alignment. It is about ensuring that your actions, words, and values tell the same story, whether in public or in private. For business owners and founders, this alignment becomes your differentiator. Skills and products can be copied. Integrity cannot.


In a competitive market where everyone is fighting for attention, it’s easy to believe that bold strategies or aggressive moves will set you apart. But often, it is the quiet, consistent choices that build the most enduring brands. The leader who doesn’t take advantage of loopholes. The entrepreneur who honours every rupee as if it were their own. The founder who inspires others not just with vision, but with character.


When you operate this way, you don’t just make money — you make meaning. And people remember those who create meaning far longer than those who chase margins.


So the next time you’re faced with the option to claim more than you need, pause. Ask yourself: What story is this action writing about me?


Because at the end of the day, your reputation is your greatest ROI. And unlike money, once lost, it cannot be reimbursed.


And if you are a business owner or founder who wants to ensure your story reflects integrity, trust, and lasting influence, investing in building a strong personal brand may be the most valuable decision you ever make. Wish to know more? Then let’s connect



(The author is a personal branding expert. She has clients from 14+ countries.

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