By Quaid Najmi and Sheikh Qayoom Pune/Srinagar, August 29 : A decision by seven prominent Ganesh Mandals in Pune to hold Ganeshotsav 2023 in the Kashmir valley has excited the interest of the local Marathi community of about 150 families living in the valley for more than four decades.
The organizations — with the exception of Dagdusheth Halwai Ganpati Mandal on Saturday announced that they will be holding a jointly Ganeshotsav celebration in J&K capital Srinagar and other towns beginning next year.
However the Maharashtrian community of J&K living and studying in the border state that was once which is now an Union Territory has balked at the idea of “some outsiders” trying to gain access to their territory with the possibility of bleak consequences.
To justify the move in his statement, one of the trustees of Shrimant Bhausaheb Rangeari Ganesh Mandal Punit Balan stated that if there could be Vaishnodevi Yatra, Amarnath Yatra or Har Ghar Tiranga from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Kanyakumari, why shouldn’t be Ganeshotsav celebrations in the UT of J&K.
However, he later assured that they would take the local Kashmiri Marathis in confidence before launching their venture.
Not too happy The J&K Shree Ganesh Seva Mandal trustee Dattatray Surwayanshi wondered what was the need for “anybody from Pune or any other city to go all out for a bit of tokenism” which could be harmful to the locals.
“We celebrate the Ganpati festival in homes for more than three decades, and we have a huge public Ganeshotsav at Lal Chowk for 23 years.Locally, the Muslim community is a huge supporter of us, and more than 55,000 residents from different states such as Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Bihar come to us with enthusiasm,” Suryawanshi told IANS.
In agreement, the founder of the NGO “Sarhad” Sanjay Nahar said that public Ganeshotsav was first created in Pune (1892) 130 years ago as a political festival organized by Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, who wanted to unify the people against the British Raj.
“It is the Marathi community in J&K that is celebrating it in an authentic religious way and also bring together all the people of J&K who annually worship the god Ganesh the elephant-headed son of Lord Shiva and his wife Parvati with their home in the Himalayas that are covered in snow,” Nahar said.
Furthermore, he pointed out that Ganeshotsav is a major event in J&K as is the Tricolour a symbol of pride by the people who live there, “but certain politicians attempt to create a false image” and create confusion and divisions among people of the country.
Suryawanshi told us that with an average budget of around Rs.250,000, the SGSM conducts the fest for 10 days with grandeur in Lal Chowk, on the last day, they hand out an solemn “visarjan” (immersion) as well as provides the ‘prasad’ food to around 5000 people.
“We only take only a small amount of Rs.2,100 per family.There are also willing donors in our group or local Muslim jewellers.
We don’t accept any money from private or public sponsors.In the last 23 years, not one Kashmiri has been averse to our annual festival and we invite everyone to are part of us in making it a huge success,” Suryawanshi declared.
The J&K Marathi community is comprised of more than 125 gold refiners , artisans and gold miners from Sangli, Solapur and Satara districts of Maharashtra Their children learn in the local J&K English schools.They and learn Marathi at home, and some even travel to other states to study higher education.
The Pune groups are planning to put up Ganesh idols during 36-hour (one-half-day) celebrations in Srinagar, Pulwama, Shopian, Anantnag, Baramulla, Kupwara and Khurhan, and in the future, they plan to turn it into a full-fledged Ganeshotsav (10-day celebration).
On August 31st the Divisional Commissioner Kashmir Pandurang K.Pole — which is also is a Marathi is scheduled to officially launch the SGSM celebration with the tall, 4-foot-tall idol of Lord Ganesh brought from Maharashtra this year.the ritual of immersion will be conducted close to the Hanuman Temple on the banks of River Jhelum on September 9.
In addition to Suryawanshi and Nahar and Nahar, business people from various communities have scoffed at the Pune group’s proposal, that the event of one and a half days is not Ganeshotsav in any way and are hopeful that “better wisdom prevails” as expected by Lord Ganesha himself, who is considered to be Ganesha, the God of intellect.
(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: [email protected] & Sheikh Qayoom can be contacted at: [email protected])
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