Mumbai: Drenched and tired with an umbrella in one hand and purse in another, Trupti Patil travelled 30 kilometers from Thane to Mumbai’s revered Ganpati idol Lalbaugcha Raja on Wednesday. This year, she had a long list of woes to share with Bappa. She lost her job at a private firm about two months ago. But standing in a long, serpentine queue for three hours, she found out she had one more big trouble—Patil is no SRK, Amit Shah or Mukesh Ambani who can skip the line and get an instant darshan of the deity. Lalbaugcha Raja has a VIP sized problem.
Celebrities, politicians and other notable personalities have always got special access at Lalbaugcha Raja. They don’t stand in queues, offer their prayers and even have time to click pictures before the idol. This year, many outraged against this VIP culture on social media by sharing anecdotes and videos flagging discrimination.
Devotees like Patil were left high and dry. In a best-case scenario, she could only get 30 seconds with the Ganpati before being forced to keep the never-ending queue moving.
“This is my second time visiting the Lalbaugcha Raja, I was a kid the first time. This time it is quite special. However, I don’t know if I will be able to pray properly or if I can look at the murti or not. VIPs get different treatment, and they even perform puja. We don’t even get to bow down properly. But what to do, I have faith in this and hence have come here,” she said.
Lalbaugcha Raja, perhaps, faces the most flak for its VIP culture because it also draws the biggest crowds. Over the ten-day Ganesh festival, at least 50 lakh people visit the pandal in central Mumbai.
ThePrint reached out to secretary of Lalbaugcha Raja Sarvajanik Ganesh mandal Sudhir Salvi but he refused to comment, citing “no time to talk.”
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Bad year for devotees
Lalbaugcha Raja holds a rich history that goes back to early 1930s. In those days, the Lalbaug area was dominated by textile mills. It was in 1934, when Lalbaugcha Raja Sarvajanik Ganesh mandal was established to take care of preparations for Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations.
Since then, the mandal has kept the idol except in 2020 during the pandemic. The organisation also carries out numerous social and educational activities including donations during natural calamities, blood donation camps, dialysis centres etc.
According to media reports, this year, in just five days, the mandal received nearly Rs 3 crore in donations.
Lakhs and lakhs of devotees come offer their prayers here. Some stand closer to the idol, others just get the ‘mukh darshan’, from over 30 feet distance. Many of the devotees have to wait all night to see Lalbaugcha Raja.
Shraddha Gokhale, a dentist from Pune, has visited the idol twice when she was living in Mumbai about a decade ago—once as a VIP and the other time as a commoner.
“The treatment is definitely different. As a VIP, they take you from backdoor directly to the feet of the idol. We get to pray but I see how common people got treated. They don’t even get to pray properly and are always moved aside as soon as they reach near the idol. But for some, just going near the idol means a lot,” she said.
Jigar Patel, who had traveled from Pune, was making his third visit to Lalbaugcha Raja, but was left disappointed. This year, he went there on the first day, thinking there wouldn’t be much of a crowd since most people have Ganesh idols at their homes. At first, Patel with his two-and-a-half-year-old toddler tried to get in the queue but looking at the swarm of people, he decided otherwise.
“The line was too long and with the kid, we decided not to. There was a lot of rush. It wasn’t managed properly this time around,” he said.
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Post-pandemic rush
Crowds have swollen since the pandemic, says president of Ganesh Mandal Samanvay Samiti
Before the pandemic, the crowds were manageable, said Naresh Dahibawkar, president of the Ganesh Mandal Samanvay Samiti. The organisation manages festival celebration events with Lalbaugcha Raja Sarvajanik Ganesh mandal.
“But since the pandemic, the crowds have swollen. Now people are coming from across the state and even all the way from Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka. The police also cooperate with us in maintaining the security,” he said.
He added that the priority is given to women and children. Police and mandal workers make sure that security is kept tight at the spot and no untoward activity takes place.
Earlier, people in Maharashtra would keep Ganesh idols at their houses and visit Lalbaugcha Raja after five days, that is when the crowds would swell, said Dahibawkar. But in the last couple of years, the crowds have started arriving from the first day itself.
The growing crowds have turned away more than a few devotees from visiting Bappa. There won’t be a third visit for Gokhale either.
“After my second time I decided that this is it. When you go there, you can’t even stand still and pray. It is chaos,” she said.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)