MUMBAI: The state government has doubled the scholarship for students of seven notified minority communities to pursue higher education in the current academic year. The scope of the minority scholarship has been increased to include students pursuing Art and full-time diploma programmes. Minority students - Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, Jain, Sikh, Zoroastrain, Jew - pursing higher education are entitled to an annual scholarship of up to Rs 50,000 as against Rs 25,000. The annual income cap to avail the scholarship remains Rs 8 lakh a year as per a state government resolution issued on October 4. Students pursuing degree courses in arts, science and commerce will get up to Rs 5,000 a year this academic year. The amount will be deposited in the Aadhar card-linked bank account of the student in October and February. The scholarship amount has been doubled after over a decade.
MUMBAI: The state government has doubled the scholarship for students of seven notified minority communities to pursue higher education in the current academic year. The scope of the minority scholarship has been increased to include students pursuing Art and full-time diploma programmes. Minority students - Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, Jain, Sikh, Zoroastrain, Jew - pursing higher education are entitled to an annual scholarship of up to Rs 50,000 as against Rs 25,000. The annual income cap to avail the scholarship remains Rs 8 lakh a year as per a state government resolution issued on October 4. Students pursuing degree courses in arts, science and commerce will get up to Rs 5,000 a year this academic year. The amount will be deposited in the Aadhar card-linked bank account of the student in October and February. The scholarship amount has been doubled after over a decade.
While Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at his party’s Dussehra rally in Mumbai, Maharashtra Chief Minister and rebel Sena leader Eknath Shinde chose to attack Uddhav at his faction’s rally held on the occasion in a different part of the city.The two grand Mumbai rallies on Wednesday evening turned into a contest between Uddhav and Shinde to claim the legacy of Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray, with each one marked by a large gathering of saffron-clad Sena activists, where speakers aggressively took on the rival faction while making their respective claims of being the “true flag-bearers of Hindutva”.From a stage whose backdrop was framed by images of Bal Thackeray and Shinde’s political guru late Anand Dighe along with a slogan stating “Garv se kaho hum Hindu hain (Proudly say that we are Hindus)”, the CM, whose camp has staked claim on the Sena’s election symbol, bow and arrow, before the Election Commission of India (ECI) while projecting itself as the “real” Sena, addressed his Dussehra rally at the Bandra Kurla Complex’s MMRDA ground. A special empty chair was kept in the middle of the stage, symbolically honouring Bal Thackeray.For Uddhav, his party’s annual Dussehra rally was a congregation of “eknishtha (loyal)” workers. At the packed rally venue in Shivaji Park, he called the Shinde camp “parasites” that grew on trees’ branches. “Branches may fall, but the tree survives on roots and you (workers) are Sena’s roots,” he told the rally, adding that he will again help the Sena clinch the CM post if backed by party workers.Even as Uddhav referred to Shinde as a “contractual CM” and raked up his “betrayal”, the former’s larger target remained the BJP. In his 40-minute-long speech, Uddhav countered the BJP’s charge against him of “ditching Hindutva” to align with the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) by referring to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat’s recent visit to a madrasa in Delhi. He questioned if this attempt to initiate a conversation with the other side is acceptable then what was wrong with his aligning with the Congress. He also raised the issue of remission granted to the Bilkis Bano case convicts who were also feted after their release from prison. “Is this the example of woman empowerment you are talking about?” he asked.By going after the BJP, Uddhav also sent out a political message that he could be a part of a larger anti-BJP front that may take shape ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.The BJP is going to be the main opponent of the Uddhav Sena in the upcoming Mumbai civic body polls. Uddhav’s bid to challenge Union Home minister Amit Shah and his attempt to make a distinction between the Hindutva propagated by both the parties is being seen as a clear sign that he is ready to lock horns with the BJP in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls.Shinde, on the other hand, chose to reply in his 90-minute long speech to every criticism made against him by Uddhav. The CM also sought to rise to the defence of the BJP and RSS leadership, which might give the handle to the Uddhav Sena to sharpen its allegation that he was “dancing to the BJP’s tunes”.The CM also tried to connect emotionally with his supporters by explaining how he toiled hard for the party and is an ardent follower of Bal Thackeray’s Hindutva. By restraining himself from making personal attacks on the Thackeray family, he seemed to have hoped to earn sympathy of the common Sena workers.Earlier in the day, in an apparent swipe at Uddhav, who has maintained that he being the son of Bal Thackeray is the true inheritor of his legacy, Shinde posted a tweet with a quote of noted Hindi writer Harivanshrai Bachchan, stating “My son, being a son will not be my heir, whoever will be my heir will be my son”. Shinde’s appeal to common Sena workers and his repeated claims that the Sena was not a “private limited company” was aimed at legitimising his rebellion against the Thackerays as he projected himself as the “true heir” of Bal Thackeray’s ideology.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde Wednesday declared his faction of the Shiv Sena as the true inheritor of Bal Thackeray’s legacy and accused former chief minister Uddhav Thackery of betraying ideals of his father as well as the Hindutva ideology.“We are not gaddars (traitors). Everyone knows who the real traitors are. The betrayal took place in 2019 when you joined hands with Congress. You betrayed Bal Thackeray, Hindutva and your voters,” he said, addressing his faction’s Dussehra Rally at Bandra Kurla Complex, a show of strength countering the rival rally by the Uddhav faction at Shivaji Park.While Uddhav’s main thrust was on targeting the BJP, Shinde, in his 90-minute address, spoke largely about his rival.“You should introspect why we left, instead of calling us gaddars. Why did Raj Thackeray leave, and why did Narayan Rane leave? Were they all traitors?” Shinde said.“I will never digress from the thoughts of Bal Thackeray. True heirs of Bal Thackeray are those who have inherited his thoughts,” Shinde said, repeatedly invoking the Sena founder.I will never digress from the thoughts of Bal Thackeray. Today you called me Kattappa [the ‘Baahubali’ character who stabbed his king], but even he was self-respecting and not a two-faced politician like yoWith the Shinde faction failing to get the Sena’s traditional Shivaji Park venue for the rally, it used optics to reinforce its links to Bal Thackeray. The poster at the back of the stage read ‘Garv se kaho hum Hindu hain’, a statement Bal Thackeray made after the 1992 Mumbai riots. At the centre of the stage was a chair the Sena founder used during his visits to Thane in 2009-2010—Shinde paid tribute to the chair with a garland after he arrived on stage at 7.30 pm. At the beginning of the rally, snippets of Bal Thackeray’s speeches — criticising the Congress and the desire for the CM’s chair — were played as part of a musical video.Attacking Uddhav over his speech at Shivaji Park, which concluded a few minutes before his own speech began, Shinde said: “Today you called me Kattappa [the Baahubali character who stabbed his own king], but even he was self-respecting and not a two-faced politician like you.”Right at the beginning of his speech, Shinde kneeled on the stage and touched the ground with his forehead as tribute to the audience. He said: “I am one of you, I am like you. This will mark the end of dynasty politics in Shiv Sena.”Shinde added: “Shiv Sena is not your private limited company. It is the result of the sweat and blood of thousands of Shiv Sainiks, and you gave it away to Congress and NCP for personal gain. Bal Thackeray used to say he would rather retire than join hands with scoundrels [Congress], and you disrespected his thought.”He also targeted Uddhav over his party’s new tagline displayed at Shivaji Park — “Ekanishtha” meaning loyal. Shinde said: “What is loyal? Who are left? How many are left? Everyone will come here [to Shinde camp]. This is emotional blackmailing and it will not work.”Shinde’s speech also had praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “The Prime Minister has made our country proud, and spread the name of our country far and wide. Everyone across the world respects him. When any country faces calamities, India is the first to help that country in abundance.”
Addressing his much-anticipated Dussehra rally, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday, without naming the Maharashtra Chief Minister, labelled the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction as traitors, accusing them of conspiring against him when he was at his “most vulnerable physical state after suffering a debilitating illness”.The former Chief Minister, while addressing his party cadre at the annual rally, launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), once again questioning its version of Hindutva, and stated that the idea of democracy was under threat under the dispensation at the Centre.“Breaking the alliance with the BJP does not mean that we have left the fold and ideology of Hindutva. I do not need to learn Hindutva from a party whose leaders have bowed their heads at the tomb of Jinnah and went uninvited to Pakistan to meet Nawaz Sharif,” Thackeray said during his 45-minute address to party workers at Shivaji Park, which was packed to capacity with Shiv Sainiks who had come to the state capital from across the state.Taking on the Central government, Thackeray said, “There is a genuine worry on whether democracy in this country can stay alive. This is a warning call for all citizens. There is a genuine fear that we, as a country, may get pushed into servitude. There is a need for all patriots to unite.”The Sena chief said the BJP was trying to cover up its shortcoming in ruling the country by evoking its version of Hindutva. “You (the BJP) speak about the cow, but why don’t you speak about the rising inflation in the country? Speak about it as well. But just to divert the attention of people, they speak about Hindutva,” Thackeray said.Thackeray also took a swipe at Union Home Minister Amit Shah and said that he was busy conspiring in toppling the governments in states ruled by Opposition parties instead of concentrating on the work assigned to a country’s Home Minister.In the Ankita Bhandari murder case, the resort where it happened belonged to a BJP leader. In the Bilkis Bano case, sentences of the convicts were waived. These are the values of the BJP“Instead of fulfilling his duties as the Home Minister, his task these days is visiting states ruled by the Opposition and toppling the governments there,” Thackeray said.He further challenged Shah to “bring back the land which has been occupied by Pakistan and China” instead of making statements of “showing Shiv Sena its place”, alluding to a recent remark made by Shah to BJP members during his visit to Mumbai.“You came here and said you will show us the ground. We are on the ground only. But I challenge you to retrieve the ground that we have lost to Pakistan in the form of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir as well as China. Do something about that first,” Thackeray said.He also took a swipe at the BJP over RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s statement that there was a need to empower women.“In the Ankita Bhandari murder case in Uttarakhand, the resort where it happened belonged to a BJP leader. In the Bilkis Bano case, men who raped her and killed her small child, men who were convicted, their sentences were waived off. These men were felicitated and welcomed. These are the values of the BJP,” Thackeray said.While the focus of Thackeray’s speech was targeting the BJP, he also took a swipe at the Sena’s breakaway faction, stating that they were traitors and would have to live with the “ignominy of being called traitors for the rest of their lives”.He said, “They are traitors only.. even if they have posts of ministers now, it won’t be the case for a long time.. but their identity of being traitors will be theirs forever and cannot be wiped out ever.” Thackeray further said, “They are duplicates and fake. They think that they have become Balasaheb themselves..”Without referring to Shinde by name, Thackeray said he was betrayed by people whom he had confided in. “I feel sad about only one thing. I had given responsibility for handling the affairs of the party(during the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi [MVA] government) to an individual. But when I was in hospital and in a vulnerable state, the same person was conspiring to break the party and finish me off forever,” he said.Thackeray made an emotional outreach to the Sainiks gathered at the rally, asking them to support the party while promising that the Shiv Sena will bounce back with double the force. “Today, I have nothing. We will have a difficult path ahead. But, with your support, the Shiv Sena will rise again. It will bounce back and I will make a Shiv Sainik the Chief Minister again. We have to defeat the traitors in every election,” Thackeray said.Thackeray also praised the Sena’s MVA coalition partners – the Congress and the NCP – stating they gave the party respect. “When we renamed Aurangabad as Sambhaji Nagar and Osmanabad as Dharashiv, the coalition immediately agreed. Still they (the BJP) say we left Hindutva? Where were they (Shinde faction) that time? Touring Guwahati and Surat?” the former CM said.The Shiv Sena’s Dussehra rally at Shivaji Park in Dadar came after a battle with its rival – the Shinde-led faction – over the venue which culminated in the Bombay High Court ruling in Thackeray’s favour in its verdict in the matter on September 23.
MUMBAI: Terming his faction as the real Shiv Sena and Uddhav Thackeray as "the real betrayer," CM Eknath Shinde went all out in defence of PM Modi and union home minister Amit Shah at his Dussehra rally. Addressing his first rally at BKC, he said it was Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray's dream that Article 370 be abrogated and the Ram Mandir be built in Ayodhya. "This was fulfilled by Modi and Shah and yet you (Uddhav) mock them," he said. Pointing to the huge gathering, Shinde said now no one would question which was the real Shiv Sena. Shinde said he was proud to be the handyman of Modi and Shah rather than being the handyman of those who support Dawood and Yakub Memon, reports Clara Lewis. Attacking Uddhav, Shinde said in his lust for power, he has destroyed the Sena. "We are not betrayers. You betrayed the mandate of the people in 2019. You got votes with hoardings that had pictures of Balasaheb Thackeray on one side and Modi on the other. Balasaheb used to run the government with a remote control. You handed over Shiv Sena's remote control to NCP-Congress," he said. Bal Thackeray's son and Uddhav's elder brother Jaidev, his estranged wife Smita and son Nihar made it a point to be present at the CM's rally. Shiv Sena not a Pvt Ltd Co, it belongs to Sainiks: CM Addressing his first rally at BKC, CM Eknath Shinde accused Uddhav Thackeray of ceasing to call Balasaheb 'Hinduhriday Samrat' and referring to him only as 'Shiv Sena chief' to please Congress. "We are ideologically opposed to Congress-NCP, yet you embraced them. Even when they moved to slit Sena's throat, you did nothing," Shinde said. He said Thackeray preferred to listen "only to Sanjay like in the Mahabharata", hence the rebellion. "If Sena and Sainiks would not have destroyed Congress bastions, you would not have reached where you have. You make fun of our livelihoods, calling us 'paan tapriwala,' 'rickshawwala.' Can only zamindars, capitalists, those born with a golden spoon become CM?" he asked. Shinde said Thackeray went to court to get Shivaji Park to hold his rally. As CM he could've intervened, but he did not as "it is my responsibility to maintain law and order." He added Uddhav had taken help of Congress to bring people for his rally, just as his people had taken part in the latter's Bharat Jodo Yatra. He accused Thackeray of "burning Balasaheb's ideology." "Do you have moral authority to stand on that ground and speak? Thousands of Shiv Sainiks shed their blood to make the Sena, and you handed over the party's remote control to NCP. Balasaheb called them scoundrels, and you tied Sena to them," Shinde said. Hence, said Shinde, Sainiks rebelled. For 3 months, the CM said he has been moving around and has got a huge response from people. "Had we made a mistake, people would not have come out in such numbers. Shiv Sena is not a private limited company. Sena does not belong to Uddhav or Eknath. It is the Sena of Balasaheb's thoughts and belongs only to Shiv Sainiks," he said. Shinde said two words have been used to describe them - "gaddar" (betrayer) and "khoke" (boxes). "The betrayal happened in 2019. We are not "gaddars" (betrayers) but "Gadar" (revolutionaries)," he said. Reacting to Thackeray's statement that they were a group stealing another's father, he said Uddhav has tried to sell off the father's ideology. "You have become helpless for power. To please Congress-NCP you said we rotted for 25 years with BJP. Yakub Memon was responsible for Mumbai blasts, yet you made an MLA who sought to get his death penalty revoked a minister. How much salt will you rub into Mumbaikars' wounds?" asked Shinde. He further said, "Now that you have lost power you remember the ordinary Shiv Sainik. You did work from home. We never did 'work from home' but 'work without home.'" On Thackeray demanding they resign and go with BJP, he questioned why Thackeray did not resign when he went against the people's will. Hitting out at Uddhav for calling his son Shrikant, an MP, as "kaarta" and that his grandson was in line for a councillor ticket, Shinde said on becoming CM, he made his son (Aaditya) a minister instead of giving an MLA from rural Maharashtra a chance. "My grandson is only 18 months old. Thackeray's downfall began after his birth," he said. He accused Uddhav of cutting down Sena leader Anand Dighe and others in the party. "After Dighe's death, I thought you'd ask me how to expand party in Thane. Instead you asked me about his property and who were holding it. By cutting the feet of those who were rising, you forgot you were cutting down Sena," said Shinde.
"Balasaheb said he won't go with the Congress. You did that," Eknath Shinde said.Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde flipped Uddhav Thackeray's slur of "Gaddar (traitor)" today, declaring it was he who had betrayed the Sena by forming an alliance with the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party. It was an insult not only to Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray who was against both parties, but also the ordinary Shiv Sainik who had worked for the party for years, he said."Balasaheb said he would close down the Shiv Sena but won't go with the Congress. You did that and this was against Balasaheb," he said."You don't want to even talk about Hindutva now... They keep opposing (VD) Savarkar and you did nothing... Savarkar is our God and we take his name with pride but due to Congress we were asked to be quiet," Mr Shinde said.Mr Thackeray, he alleged, "makes fun of the Prime Minister and calls Home Minister Amit Shah Afzal Khan". But they worked to fulfill Balasaheb Thackeray's dreams of scrapping Article 370 of the constitution and building the Ram Temple in Ayodhya."Modi and Amit Shah are fulfilling the dream and ideology of Balasaheb," he added."Did we take this decision in happiness? Even we were sad while taking this decision. But we were suffering for 2.5 years and that's why we had to do something. That's why in June we did what we did and 33 countries were continuously googling what we were doing," he said.Levelling tit-for-tat allegations of greed, he said, "This isn't a private limited company where you will do a partnership" for that. Addressing a rally this evening at Mumbai's Shivaji Park -- the traditional venue for Sena's Dussehra rally, Mr Thackeray had accused the Chief Minister of being a "traitor" to fulfil his "greed".PromotedListen to the latest songs, only on JioSaavn.comCalling his move to split the party a "gadar" (rebellion), he compared it to the mutiny of 1857 against the British. "In 1857, when our people fought against the British, that wasn't 'gaddari', that was 'kranti' (rebellion)... this is also a 'kranti'," he said.The Sena split in June after which the two factions have been toe-to-toe claiming the legacy of founder Balasaheb Thackeray. The battle for the bow and arrow election symbol has reached the Election Commission.
Addressing the annual Dussehra rally at the iconic Shivaji Park ground in Mumbai, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray Wednesday called his successor Eknath Shinde and his supporters “traitors” and insisted that this stamp will remain forever.“As time changes, Ravan’s face also changes. Today, it is the traitors (who are Ravan). When I was unwell and underwent a surgery, I had given the responsibility to him (Shinde). But he conspired against me thinking I will never stand up on my feet again,” Shiv Sena president Thackeray said while lashing out at Shinde, whose rebellion in June brought down the Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government in the state.Thackeray said that the Shiv Sena does not belong to one person but to all loyal Sena workers. He added, “If you feel I should not remain the Sena president, I will quit. There is a limit to lust for power. After the act of treachery, he (Shinde) now wants the party, its symbol and also wants to be called the party president.”Last month, the Supreme Court had rejected the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena’s prayer to stay proceedings pending before the Election Commission of India over a request by CM Shinde for recognition of his faction as the real Shiv Sena and permission to use the party’s ‘bow and arrow’ election symbol.The former chief minister further went to say that he formed a post-poll alliance with Congress and Nationalist Congress Party to teach the BJP a lesson for breaking its promises. “I swear on my parents that it had been decided that the BJP and Shiv Sena will share the chief minister’s post for two and a half years,” Thackeray said.Thackeray also said he did not need lessons on Hindutva from the BJP. “BJP leaders visited (then Pakistan prime minister) Nawaz Sharif on his birthday without invitation and bowed before Jinnah’s grave,” he said.Concluding his speech, Thackeray sought the support and strength from Sena cadre, saying the party will bounce back.“Today I have nothing. But with your support the Shiv Sena will rise again. I will make a Shiv Sena worker chief minister again. We have to defeat the traitors in every election,” he said.Our rebellion was not act of ‘betrayal’, but ‘revolt’ : CM ShindeMaharashtra CM Shinde, meanwhile, asserted his rebellion was not an act of “betrayal”, but a “revolt” and asked Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray to kneel down at party founder Bal Thackeray’s memorial and apologise for going against his ideals and aligning with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).Addressing a mega rally at the Bandra Kurla Complex’s MMRDA ground on the occasion of Dussehra, Shinde said voters in the state elected the Shiv Sena and the BJP in the 2019 Assembly elections, but Thackeray “betrayed” people by joining hands with the Congress and the NCP to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.The rally was attended by Jaidev Thackeray, brother of Uddhav Thackeray, and his estranged wife Smita Thackeray. Nihar Thackeray, grandson of late Bal Thackeray, also attended the rally besides Champa Singh Thapa, a long-time personal aide of the Sena founder.(With inputs from PTI)
Mumbai: The big Sena versus Sena battle on the occasion of Dussehra today started off with a stern warning from former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. "Ravan will burn," Mr Thackeray told the Eknath Shinde camp, pointing to the huge crowds at Mumbai's Shivai Park -- the traditional venue for the party's Dussehra celebration.Mr Shinde, who held a parallel rally at the MMRDA grounds, launched a sharp counter-attack. "Do you have any moral right to even stand and speak there? You used Shiv Sainiks for your personal reason and went ahead with Congress and NCP… Balasaheb Thackeray used to run the government on remote control and you gave this remote control to NCP," he said.The two factions of Sena, eye-ball to eyeball since the split in June -- are holding what has been billed as a show of strength. For the first time since the Shiv Sena's inception 56 years ago, two Dussehra rallies are being held in Mumbai by the rival factions."What will happen to Shiv Sena? Seeing the crowd here, the question now is -- what will happen to the traitors? All have gathered together. Like every year, this time too Ravana will burn. But this time Ravana is different," Mr Thackeray told the crowd at Shivaji Park.The BJP, Mr Thackeray insisted, had betrayed the Sena and this was why the alliance broke. "I swear by my parents that there was talk of half-term. Then (Union home minister) Amit Shah said nothing of the sort was decided," Mr Thackeray said.The BJP, he added, is now in the situation they tried to avoid -- making Eknath Shinde the Chief Minister. "Why didn't you do it earlier?" he said.The majority of Mr Thackeray's wrath was reserved for Mr Shinde, who, he said, had betrayed the party."How much should a man's greed be? He was given the Chief Minister's post. Now he wants the party too," he said, accusing the new Chief Minister of "stealing" his father.Mr Shinde, who is fighting to claim the legacy of Balasaheb Thackeray – Uddhav Thackeray's father and the founder of Shiv Sena – had rubbed in the point quoting couplets from renowned poet Harivanshrai Bachchan."My son will not be my heir by being my son; whoever is my heir will be my son - Harivanshrai Bachchan," the Maharashtra Chief Minister tweeted, implying that legacy of a man need not necessarily be passed onto his son.At his parallel rally today, Mr Shinde insisted that the word is not "gaddar (traitor)" but "gadar (revolution)", implying that they are revolutionaries tying to take Sena back to its Hindutva roots.PromotedListen to the latest songs, only on JioSaavn.comMr Shinde had started his speech with chants of "Garv se kaho hum Hindu hai (Say proudly that we are Hindus)", underscoring his complaint that Uddhav Thackeray had diluted the Sena ideology with tie-up with Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress.The fight over the Sena's bow and arrow symbol has reached the Election Commission. The poll body said it would apply the transparent process of the "rule of majority" after the Supreme Court refused to stop it from deciding who was the "real" Shiv Sena.
The Banga Naitri Sansad, a local community organisation in Mumbai, has been hosting a Durga puja in Santa Cruz for the past 75 years. While over 100 Durga pujas are performed in the city on Wednesday, the BNS can take pride in hosting the second oldest of its type in Maharashtra.In a wide-ranging affair, the community packs a month’s worth of festivities into five days. On the fourth day of celebrations, the community typically begins by holding pujas and aartis. Later it hands out food–a practice known as bhog distribution–to local families and other attendees. At night it hosts a cultural event showcasing Bengali culture, but it also features an amalgamation of practices from across the country.Given that the fifth day is typically reserved for the immersion of idols, the end of the night before was marked by a 45-minute long aarti–the last of the season. Part dance, part religious ceremony, the aarti was enthusiastically embraced by everyone present. Women were seen dancing until their bodies were coated in a veil of sweat from the unforgiving October heat, while more ambitious participants were observed dancing with the aarti in their mouths.The food, as one might expect, was also in abundance. According to Abhijit Dey, no Bengali celebration would be complete without special delicacies from the region, including fish fry, devilled eggs, Kolkata rolls and chicken cutlets. “It’s essentially the food you would have on a cheat day,” says Soumyakumar Deb, another organiser.Aishani Singh Rakhra adds, “In other cultures you have to become a vegetarian during Puja time, but in Bengali culture, you have to be strictly non-vegetarian.”At this year’s celebrations, Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari also made a brief appearance. He paid his respects at the pandal and enjoyed some of the cultural events on display. As someone fluent in Bengali, the governor seemed to immerse himself in the evening’s activities.According to its organisers, the occasion is less religious and more cultural, a way of reconnecting with Bengali heritage.Gargi Deb, who has grown up attending this puja, says that the idea is to make people feel like they are at home. “Durga Puja might be called a puja,” she says, “but it is more a Met Gala festival for Bengalis.”However, while people tracing their ancestry to Bengal and Kolkata might make up the majority of attendees, it is clear that all are welcome. People from different backgrounds, faiths and socio-economic classes flock to the large grounds every year; estimates indicate that over 600 people attended this year.This unique approach extends across different avenues. The BNS organises blood donation camps for thalassaemia major patients and gives contributions to local orphanages. When Mumbai was struck by devastating rains in 2006, the community came together to help the victims.This dedication to the community is not surprising given the background of many BNS members. Some of their families have been hosting Durga pujas for over 600 years in their ancestral homes, while others have been part of this particular community since its inception 75 years ago. According to Rakhra, the yearly celebrations give the community an opportunity to reconnect, with some of the members travelling from Kolkata and Pune to attend the festivities.The BNS Durga puja is truly a cross-generational celebration. “We used to help set up the chairs,” says Dey, associated with the event since childhood. “Now we are part of the organising committee, giving the older people a chance to relax.”As for the next generation, there is no shortage of enthusiasm there either. Vaishali Chakraborty, another member of the organising committee, happily reports that the children fight with one another to hand out specific foods or perform certain songs and dances at the gatherings.Eventually, it all boils down to creating a sense of community. Dey, who identifies as an atheist, stresses that the celebrations are less about religion and more about participating in the community–a sort of extended, close-knit family in its own right. He does not participate in the pujas or the fasting but does help to organise them.As for what’s next, the members are unanimous in their response. Following the immersion, they will have a day or two to relax before the preparations for next year’s puja begin.
After the Covid-triggered two-year hiatus, festivities are back in full vigour at Durga Puja venues in Pune city in Maharashtra. Besides the decorations and stalls, big pandals based on various themes are giving a tinge of Bengali tradition to the festive spirit.“We have been flooded with calls seeking details of stalls, location etc and we are so happy to entertain every devotee of Maa Durga,” said Arin Dubey, president of Nandanik Sanstha, a socio-cultural organisation. “We are very hopeful that many people will enjoy the much-awaited Durga Puja celebrations that we so badly missed for the last two years,” he said.Many committees across the city have invited artists from Kolkata to design the pandals from paper, wood, bamboo, fabric and other materials. Banga Bharti, an organisation of the Bengali community, has designed its Durga Puja pandal that features world peace and victory over the Coronavirus.While the Pune Kali Bari Durga Puja Association pandal is themed around the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon) temple of Mayapur in West Bengal, the Bangiya Sanskriti Samsad, popularly known as the Congress Bhavan Durga Puja, is entering its 83rd year with the theme of a terracotta-palace style decoration. At the Paschim Pune Bangiya Parishad, the goddess looks upon devotees from a beautifully decorated ‘Thakurdalan’ or traditional puja mandap of Zamindar houses in Bengal.The ritual worship has begun and crowds are thronging the venues. At the Nandanik Sanstha, for instance, people can see the idol made from ‘shola’, representative of a folk art form of Bengal. Various cultural programmes such as dance drama, fair and magic shows are held at the pandals. Professional singers are invited to sing bhajans and stuti in praise of goddess Durga as well as modern songs.Another attraction is the delicacies offered at the pandal stalls. They range from the home-cooked ‘Ghugni’ to the food prepared by chefs from Bengal. “We have experts from Bengal helping with the prasad preparation,” says Aniket Pal, a member of the Banga Bharati Durga Puja.Various committees are also conducting general health checkups and blood donation camps. Free lunch and bhog packets are given to financially weaker sections as well as to old age homes. “This year, we are contributing an amount to the New Life Hospital at Kasarsai that treats pet animals,” said Anup Datta, president of Pune Kali Bari, Khadki.
What 12 men did three centuries ago to make Durga Puja accessible to allOn the way to Guptipara, a small town in Hooghly district, some three hours away from Kolkata, the white kash phool (flower) (Saccharum spontaneum) are in full bloom, signalling that the autumn festival of Durga Puja is just around the corner. Among the oldest towns in Bengal, Guptipara, is best known for its Vaishnava terracotta temples and gupo sandesh, one in the many kinds of mishti found in the state. But what is less well-known is that this town also gave the world Durga Puja in its most well-known form: the barowari puja or the community Durga Puja.READ MOREWhat makes the Durga Pujas of rural and suburban Bengal different from their Kolkata counterpartsEvery July, the Goswami household in Serampore Rajbari (Serampore royal-family home) comes alive in preparation for the most important festival of the year. Located about 30 km north of Kolkata across the Hooghly, Serampore is well known as the erstwhile Danish town of Bengal. Hyderabad-based businessman Debojyoti Goswami, 36, the ninth generation of the family, says that no matter where he is, Durga Puja means homecoming. Along with his cousins, Goswami is in charge of putting together the 328-year old Puja that was started by Lakshman Goswami, a staunch follower of the Vaishnav saint Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and that differs, in subtle ways, from the pujas in Kolkata. After all, it carries with it the whiff of a suburban character missing from the urban landscape of Kolkata.READ MOREHow our consumption of Durga Puja has changed over the yearsLong before Unesco was thinking of Durga Puja as part of humanity’s “intangible cultural heritage”, Niladri Chatterjee was collecting very tangible artefacts of Durga Pujas past. He has a black-and-white glossy print from 1979 of a Durga image from Tarun Sporting Club — a fairly traditional Goddess on a rearing lion, spearing Mahisasura while emaciated men in dhotis look on from behind bars. At the corner is the artist’s name — Aloke Sen.READ MORETucked away in the heart of Kolkata’s Cossipore area lies the city’s oldest Durga TempleThe road leading to Kolkata’s oldest temple has a distraction. The Sarba Mangala Temple, dedicated to a different form of the sublime goddess, is a few paces ahead of the Chitteswari Durga temple. It’s buzzing with activity, its dome is clearly visible from a distance and it can easily be mistaken for being the oldest temple of the area. Chitteswari Durga temple, built in 1610, in contrast, seems more like a residential quarter. It’s quieter, almost withdrawn from the busy stretch of road that also houses, most appropriately, one of India’s oldest weapon factories — Cossipore Gun and Shell factory. “This is in keeping with the history of the goddess here. For centuries, she remained hidden in the jungles before devotees found her again. When she calls out to you, you come here,” says Kashiswar Roy Chowdhuri, the current supervisor of the temple.READ MORECatching up with the mega fauna in Africa on the translocation of the cheetahsNow that the cheetahs have arrived and been released in Kuno, how have some of Africa’s other big mammals taken to the development? Down in Jungleland (DiJ) interviews a select few of Africa’s mega fauna and some of our own local fauna.READ MORE‘The Durga Puja ceased to be purely religious in its urban form a very long time ago’: Historian Tapati Guha-ThakurtaIn her 2015 book, In the Name of the Goddess: The Durga Pujas of Contemporary Kolkata (Primus), historian Tapati Guha-Thakurta traces the evolution of the traditional pujo to its modern form, that moves beyond religious aspects of Bengal’s most well-known festival to talk about its creative, cultural and social aspects. Little surprise then that Guha-Thakurta was chosen by the Ministry of Culture to put together a dossier highlighting the spirit of the festival for its inclusion in Unesco’s Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage.READ MOREWho are the social leaders from Maharashtra holding up Mahatma Gandhi’s legacyWhat is selfless to one is selfish to another. Few can relate to that predicament more than the woman who remains homebound while her husband is out in the world, bringing home the bread and accruing social capital. For instance, it afflicts Yojana, the wife of Bandu Dhotre, 43, a prominent wildlife activist based in Chandrapur, Maharashtra, every day of her life. They were young when he wooed her. Bandu’s idealism and passion for social service inspired her. But now, years into their marriage, she recognises what she signed up for: a lifetime of sacrifice, struggle and patience, the last of which is tested whenever she has to answer to her children why their father is a celebrated figure in school but doesn’t have money to buy them ice cream.READ MORE
Dussehra rally of Shiv Sena's Uddhav Thackeray at Shivaji Park in Mumbai (PTI)Mumbai: Uddhav Thackeray, who is fighting for control of the Shiv Sena, which Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde claims is his, today made a strong address from a Mumbai venue where the Shiv Sena has for long held its Dussehra rally. Here are 5 points from Uddhav Thackeray's speech"All employment is going to Gujarat. But Pushpa says jhukega nahi...""What will happen to Shiv Sena? Seeing the crowd here, the question now is - what will happen to the traitors? All have gathered together. Like every year, this time too Ravana will burn. But this time Ravana is different.""With time, Ravana also changes...He used to be 10-headed till now. How many heads does he have now? He is 50 times more betraying.""As long as you are there, I am the party chief of Shiv Sena. You will decide this, that I will be the party chief. If you say so, I will leave. But not at the behest of these traitors.""I can speak on Hindutva. But there is also inflation. I appreciate the courage of the Sangh, who dared to speak on inflation in the country. The rupee is falling. Who will speak on this?"Post a comment
THE Opposition parties have reacted to RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale’s statement expressing concern over “rising income inequality” and unemployment in the country at a webinar on Sunday.The Congress called it an “effect of the Bharat Jodo Yatra”, saying Rahul Gandhi’s march has prompted “even Hosabaleji” to “see the unemployed”. Jairam Ramesh, the party’s general secretary in-charge communications, tweeted: “Look at the effect of #BharatJodoYatra. Those who break the country and spread poison in the society, today they are raising the issue of poverty, unemployment and inequality to increase their reach.”#BharatJodoYatra का असर देखिए। जो देश को तोड़ते हैं और समाज में ज़हर फैलाते हैं, वो आज अपनी पहुंच बढ़ाने के लिए ग़रीबी, बेरोज़गारी और असमानता का मुद्दा उठा रहे हैं। pic.twitter.com/xSTplWxwIP— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) October 3, 2022Replying to Ramesh’s tweet, Congress’s media and publicity chairman Pawan Khera said, “I have heard that the clouds of worry have started pouring over Nagpur (the RSS headquarters). Now even Hosabaleji has started seeing the unemployed. #Bharat Jodo Yatra”.सुना है चिंता के बादल नागपुर पर छाने लगे हैं ~ अब तो होस्बोले जी को भी बेरोज़गार नज़र आने लगे हैं… #भारत_जोड़ो_यात्रा https://t.co/AoV4V4vqQJ— Pawan Khera 🇮🇳 (@Pawankhera) October 3, 2022The Congress’s Data Analytics chairperson, Praveen Chakravarthy, took to Twitter to say: “Poverty, lack of jobs, wide inequality, India needs a new economic model” says Dattatreya Hosabale, RSS General Secretary… I agree entirely with the RSS on this. (a rarity).”Saying that there was “growing anger & despair against rising poverty, unemployment and rising income disparities”, Varsha Gaikwad, former Maharashtra Education Minister under the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government, tweeted: “The Modi sarkar has only been trying to divert attention from these issues that concern the nation.”She added: “Now that the RSS has confirmed what @INCIndia has been saying, will PM Modi act?”In a series of tweets, JD(S) leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said the statement holds a mirror to the present condition in the country, and there were “big questions on the claims of Acche Din”.“BJP’s mother-root, RSS’s general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale’s statement that economic inequality, poverty and unemployment are very dangerous holds mirror to the present condition in India. Now, there are big questions on the claims of Achhe Din,” Kumaraswamy said.@BJP4India mother root @RSSorg General secretary Dattatreya Hosabale’s statement that economic inequality, poverty & unemployment are very dangerous holds mirror to the present condition in India. Now there are big question over claims of Achche Din.1/6 pic.twitter.com/8A20aXE9U1— ಹೆಚ್.ಡಿ.ಕುಮಾರಸ್ವಾಮಿ | H.D.Kumaraswamy (@hd_kumaraswamy) October 3, 2022He added: “One doesn’t require special expertise to say who have flourished, Who have lost everything in the last 7 years of @BJP4India rule”.Saying malnutrition was rampant across the country, Kumaraswamy said further: “When this is the truth, why is there fear to introspect ‘Achhe Din’? Hosable has spoken the truth of what surveys also say… “Achhe Din” is the ruling BJP’s slogan which has been used by the J P Nadda-led party and its leaders since the time the party came to power in 2014… In the year of Amrit Mahostsav of country’s Independence, there is black dot of economic inequality in India.”Saying that he was “shocked by the statistics provided by Hosabale”, he said, “Is it not a national shame that there are people struggling for one meal a day?”Kumaraswamy also said the country “getting caught in the web of ‘corporate world’ is not a good sign”. “People’s frustration and impatience is increasing day by day. It is time the BJP woke up,” he tweeted.On Sunday, speaking at a webinar organised by RSS-affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch as part of its Swawalambi Bharat Abhiyan, Hosabale said, “The poverty in the country is standing like a demon in front of us. It is important that we slay this demon. That 20 crore people are still below the poverty line is a figure that should make us very sad. As many as 23 crore people have less than Rs 375 income per day. There are four crore unemployed people in the country. The labour force survey says we have an unemployment rate of 7.6 per cent.”(With inputs from PTI)
Amidst sharpened battlelines ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, all parties on Sunday, Gandhi Jayanti, raced to ensure they were seen on the same side of one person: Mahatma Gandhi.Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who is in the Karnataka leg of his 3,400-km Bharat Jodo Yatra, clocked in a visit to the Khadi Cooperative in Badanavalu village near Mysuru, set up by Gandhi.In a Hindi tweet, he said, “Bapu taught us to walk on the path of truth and non-violence. He explained the meaning of love, compassion, harmony and humanity… Today on Gandhi Jayanti, we take a pledge that just as he united the country against injustice, we will unite our India.”Rahul has been emphasising that the aim of the yatra is to unite people, as opposed to the BJP’s agenda.Congress chief Sonia Gandhi paid tributes at Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial at Raj Ghat in Delhi. Accompanying her incidentally was senior party leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who is set to contest the Congress presidential polls.While the party has been denying so, Kharge is seen as the Gandhi family-backed candidate in the October 17 race, against Shashi Tharoor.Kharge also visited the Vijay Ghat to pay homage to former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, who shares his birth anniversary with Gandhi. “One trait that both Gandhiji & Shastriji had in common was absolute resolve, which continues to inspire us,” Kharge said in a tweet.Tharoor made his Gandhi stop at Sevagram in Wardha, Maharashtra, the ashram where Gandhi spent his final years.“A moving experience to spend the morning of #GandhiJayanti in Sevagram, Wardha. Was awed to see his simple dwelling, the very cot in which he slept, the implements he used, the humble facilities there. Wrote my thoughts in the visitors’ book,” he tweeted. Tharoor also shared videos of bhajans being sung at the ashram.Earlier, in words carefully chosen to pay a tribute to Gandhi but also to hint at the increasingly uphill battle he is himself facing, Tharoor tweeted: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”In her tweet, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra referred to the Bharat Jodo Yatra, saying: “Bapu is a Bharat Yatri sharing the sufferings of the people of the country and uniting the whole of India…Today we are walking on the path shown by Bapu with the slogan of ‘Bharat Jodo’ and with determination and the torch of unity in hand.”Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose party and government accuse the Congress of honouring some national leaders to the exclusion of others, visited both the Raj Ghat and Vijay Ghat.Paying homage to Gandhi Jayanti, Modi talked about this year being “even more special because India is marking Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav (the Modi government’s celebration of 75 years of Indian Independence)”. “May we always live up to Bapu’s ideals. I also urge you all to purchase Khadi and handicraft products as a tribute to Gandhi Ji,” he added.In a video shared by the AAP’s social media handle, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, who spent the day in Gujarat, talked about Gandhi’s dreams for the country in the fields of education, healthcare, quality of life and brotherhood of people belonging to different religions, adding: “We have united people in Delhi and changed the country. We have made the Republic meet its strength.”Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, who is an ally of the Congress and flagged off Rahul’s Yatra, said in a tweet: “On this day, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi who worked hard to overcome adversities and to create a society with Equality and Fraternity, let’s take an oath to say there is no place for the forces of hatred to thrive on this Gandhian soil.”(with inputs from PTI)
