Raj Thackeray accuses BJP of using Chhath Puja to fuel divide between Marathis and North Indians

The dispute over Bhojpuri songs at railway stations revives a long-running political debate over the festival, regional identity and its use for electoral gain.

A day after his partymen staged protests against Chhath pooja at Banganga, opposing Bhojpuri songs being played at suburban railway stations, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Friday alleged the ruling BJP was using the festival to create a rift between north Indians and sons of the soil, with an eye on the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections.

A dispute emerged on Thursday when Bhojpuri songs were played on the public announcement system at select suburban railway stations in Mumbai ahead of Chhath Puja. (Praful Gandgurde / Hindustan Times )

Chhath has been firmly entrenched in Maharashtra’s evolving political fabric for nearly two decades.

Dedicated to Lord Surya (Sun God), Chhath pooja is celebrated in Bihar, Jharkhand and eastern Uttar Pradesh bordering Bihar, to express gratitude for life on earth. It derives its name – chhath or sixth -- as it is celebrated on the sixth day after Diwali.

In Mumbai, the Hindi-speaking north Indian community – the second-largest linguistic group after the Marathi-speaking people—celebrates the festival.

A dispute emerged on Thursday when Bhojpuri songs were played on the public announcement system at select suburban railway stations in Mumbai ahead of the festival on Sunday. While Shiv Sena (UBT) opposed “the imposition of north Indian culture on Maharashtra”, MNS alleged the occasion was being used by the BJP government for political gains.

City BJP president Ameet Satam reacted saying, “The two parties -- Sena UBT and MNS -- have only survived by wedging differences. People have rejected them repeatedly; yet they fuel the same sentiments.”

The early Chhath

Ironically, while Sena (UBT) and MNS are leveraging local identity, largescale public celebrations of the festival began in Mumbai when the (undivided) Shiv Sena-BJP alliance was at the helm of affairs, with the first initiative being taken by then Sena MP Sanjay Nirupam in 1998.

“I started the Chhath pooja celebrations in Mumbai under the joint banner of Shiv Sena and Bihari Front, a social organisation. Leaders like (then chief minister) Manohar Joshi, Narayan Rane and Uddhav Thackeray attended our function at Juhu beach. In the early 2000s even veteran film star Amitabh Bachchan attended the function,” Nirupam, a leader in the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, recalled on Friday, adding that Raj Thackeray never attended the festival.

The politicisation of the festival began in 2007 when Raj Thackeray split from (the unified) Shiv Sena and formed the MNS, which first objected to the large-scale Chhath pooja celebrations at Juhu and other Mumbai beaches, alleging north Indian leaders were using the festival to expand their political influence.

In February 2008, Raj Thackeray called the festival “nautanki” and a display of (north Indian) arrogance. The remarks irked then railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, who challenged Thackeray and threatened to celebrate the festival outside his residence or at Shivaji Park. The slugfest between the two leaders stoked clashes between north Indians and MNS workers in Mumbai, Pune, Nashik and Thane. Both Raj Thackeray and Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi were booked by police; by October of that year, Thackeray softened his stand and clarified that his opposition was not to Chhath but its political use by north Indian leaders in Mumbai.

The slugfest

While Maharashtra politics has changed since that time, the narrative around Chhath pooja has remained a constant – those eyeing the north Indian votes supported it, and those wooing the Marathi manoos opposed it.

More recently, the BJP—which won the Mumbai civic elections earlier this year after adding a number of non-Marathi voters, including north Indians and Gujaratis—supported the festival. The BJP-ruled BMC has set up artificial ponds at more than 20 places for the devotees to conduct the pooja.

In response to the government’s move, Raj Thackeray urged his followers “not to fall into their trap and resort to violence”.

In a social media post, he said: “There is no need for us to fight on the battlefield they choose. That is not the Maharashtrian way. They may have forgotten Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s guerrilla warfare tactics, but we must remember it. We shall decide how and when to respond using these tactics.”

He added: “The BJP has ruined the nation and destroyed social harmony. The same is happening in Maharashtra – acting on the directives of the Centre, they are selling off Maharashtra piece by piece, to a single industrialist and his cronies, stripping the state bare from every direction.”

Echoing his uncle, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray posted on a social media platform saying: “Be Alert! BJP wants to keep us busy in controversies like Chhath. But reports show how the BJP is allowing its favourite businessmen to loot Maharashtra in the project proposed in Sahyadri mountains. I urge all, including those who perform Chhath, that the BJP only needs you for the votes.”

Meanwhile, as he sets about to organise the 29th celebration this year, Nirupam refuted charges of north India’s cultural invasion on Maharashtra, saying, “Ganesh festival, which originated in this state, is now celebrated across the country. Is that an imposition of Marathi culture on other parts of the nation?”