Chandrapur immersion procession sees rival welcome pandals of same parties
Chandrapur's Ganesh immersion procession drew six rival welcome pandals from the BJP, Congress and Shiv Sena, exposing factional rifts within each party.
The Ganesh immersion procession in Chandrapur city went off with much fervour on September 25, with lakhs of people bidding an emotional farewell to Bappa. But amid the enthusiasm, factionalism within political parties was also clearly visible. This time, citizens in the city saw six separate welcome pandals set up, including two each from the BJP, the Congress and the Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray Shiv Sena.
Lokmanya Tilak had started Ganeshotsav with the aim of uniting people, and even today the festival is celebrated, albeit in a somewhat modern style. During the immersion procession, political parties usually come forward to welcome Ganesh mandals and citizens, but in recent years it has been seen that leaders from the same party set up separate stalls to display their own political strength.
The rivalry between MLA Munganitwar and MLA Jorgewar in Chandrapur's politics is somewhat old. The two leaders have shared the same stage before people in the district on several occasions, but their welcome pandals at the Ganesh immersion procession were set up close to each other, and as in previous years, there was a dispute this time too over permission for the pandals. Supporters of each of the two leaders were present at their respective pandals.
On the other side, factionalism has also persisted in the Congress party for years. Separate pandals were set up for the Wadettiwar and Dhanorkar factions as well. Leaders and corporators supporting the Wadettiwar faction were present at their Congress pandal, while at the other welcome pandal, MP Pratibha Dhanorkar herself was present along with her supporters and corporators.
The Shiv Sena party split, some leaders left the party for the sake of power, and the single party broke into two. Despite this, unity was not visible even within this divided party. Supporters were surprised this time to see separate pandals for the Shiv Sena and the Yuva Sena. On one side was the Shiv Sena, which holds power in the municipal corporation, and on the other the Yuva Sena, with both welcome pandals remaining a centre of attraction for people this time. However, the largest number of people and supporters were seen heading towards the pandal of Yuva Sena district chief Vikrant Sahare and city chief Suresh Pachare.
People of every faith took part in this immersion procession, and together they bid farewell to Ganpati Bappa. The happiest person at the entire event appeared to be the Ganesh mandal president, who had to accept welcome and felicitation twice over from the same party, only with different factions each time. A large number of party workers, along with ordinary citizens, were present to witness this spectacle of political factionalism.
