VIJAYAPURA: Many organisers of the Ganesha festival refrained from putting up pictures of Hindu Mahasabha leader VD Savarkar inside the pandals in the city.
Members of Sriram Sene had said that they would be distributing over 250 pictures of VD Savarkar to be displayed inside pandals during the week-long festivities. But most of the organisers did not put up pictures of either Savarkar or any other prominent personalities.
Of the 200 Ganesha idols in public places, a mere 10 to 15 have put up Savarkar’s picture.
Speaking to TNIE, one of the organisers of the festival, Rahul Patil (name changed), pointed out, “We have been celebrating the festival over the past decade in our locality. We have never put up any pictures except gods inside the pandal. We decided against putting up Savarkar’s picture because it might hurt the sentiments of other people.”
“We will not entertain those who have an agenda to create nuisance in the community,” said Shankar Biradar, organiser of the Ganesh festival in one of the localities.
Speaking to TNIE, district president of Srirama Sene Neelkant K said, “We have reached out to maximum people with the drive. A section of people is trying to portray it as a failure but we have succeeded.”
Meanwhile, the police had ordered that organisers have to take permission to display pictures of any freedom fighter or distinguished personalities inside the pandals.
“We have not received any application from organisers seeking permission to display photos inside pandals. No untoward incident has happened,” SP HD Anand Kumar told TNIE.