When Narendra Modi brought back Ganeshotsav to Gujarat

New Delhi, Aug 28 (IANS) Ganesh Chaturthi, also called Vinayaka Chaturthi or Ganesh Utsav, is a ten-day long Hindu festival celebrating the birth of Lord Ganesha.

As the countrymen engage in ten-day festivities, an incident from Gujarat’s Sabarkantha shows how the festival saw a break in the celebrations in 1988 due to stone-pelting but was revived by Narendra Modi, the then Gujarat BJP General Secretary.

Vasant Mehta, a BJP leader from Gujarat sharing an anecdote from Meghraj village in Sabarkantha, recalled that the villagers faced stone attacks and also the government restrictions and this led to temporary halt in ‘Ganpati Sthapana’.

It was after the insistence and intervention of Narendra Modi that the villagers started celebrating the festival again, with its grandeur increasing every year.

Modi Story, a popular social media handle shared a video of Vasant Mehta, in which he recalls the cessation and then revival of Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations in late 1990s.

He says that Ganesh Chaturthi programme was planned in Himmatnagar at Shaktinagar area near the Zila Panchayat. Residents decided to install Ganesh idol for puja but the government did not give permission for ‘Ganesh Sthapana’.

“In Meghraj Taluka (Sabarkantha), Ganpati festival was celebrated every year. Ganesh idol used to be brought with full fanfare but at one occasion, the procession faced stone attack from some miscreants, leaving the people and locality panicked," he says, recounting the incident.

“When Narendra Modi came to Sabarkantha the next day, we apprised him about the prevailing situation and how we were forced to stop the practice of Ganesh Sthapana and festivities,” he adds.

He further says that Narendra Modi, then Gujarat BJP General Secretary, personally visited Meghraj, gathered karyakartas and took stock of the situation. He assured protection, secured government permission, and ensured the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations went ahead safely.

Since then, Ganesh Chaturthi is being celebrated in Meghraj region every year and the Ganesh Visarjan is also observed with full enthusiasm and zeal.

Since then, Ganeshotsav has continued here in in every village and every home, uninterrupted, with devotion, enthusiasm, and community spirit.

--IANS

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