After facing ire for its callous treatment of devotees, the Lalbaugcha Raja Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal, Mumbai's most-visited pandal, is being pilloried in social media for the fiasco during the immersion of the idol at Girgaon Chowpatty on Sunday evening.
The Akhil Maharashtra Macchimar Kruti Samiti, which represents the fishermen community that originally started the pandal in 1934, demanded an investigation into the 13-hour delay in the immersion, which resulted in the image being immersed during the lunar eclipse, an inauspicious time. The fishermen have written to the police, demanding an investigation and filing of criminal charges against the executive committee members of the mandal.
President of the fishermen's society, Devendra Tandel, said that the mandal has sidelined them. "There is not a single representative from our community, though it was Koliwada women who started the pandal as thanksgiving for prayers answered by Lord Ganesha. We are not interested in becoming committee members, but we wish we had been consulted before the immersion. Kolis know sea tides," said Tandel.
The Lalbaugcha Raja Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal explained the delay, saying that a combination of a technical snag in the equipment used for immersion and the occurrence of high tide stalled the ritual. Balasaheb Kamble, president of the mandal, declined to comment further.
Tandel said that the pandal volunteers were under pressure to immerse the idol as quickly as possible and ended up performing the ritual at an inauspicious time. "In the past, the fishermen's community was consulted during the ritual. They sidelined us," said Tandel, who has asked for a change in the way the queues are managed and inclusion of the Koli community in the rituals.
Citizens' activist Kamlakar Shenoy, who had raised questions about the safety of the 50-foot-high pandal and the narrow lanes where the event is held, said, "The police and the BMC should initiate criminal prosecution against the members of the mandal committee. "With the entry of corporate groups, the religious aspect of the festival has been lost," said Shenoy.
Commentators on social media said it was not a surprise that the festival ended in chaos. "They were kicking devotees. The king of Lalbaug is watching," said a devotee. "VIP darshans for the privileged and ordinary devotees pushed around. Sins will be accounted for," commented another devotee.
