Time for pot-breaking politics

The teams insist the money is not split among members. ‘‘It returns to our organisation’s treasury,’’ says Prabhakar More of the Nutan Balwadi mandal, Santacruz. ‘‘We use the money for other cultural events like Ganesh Chaturthi and Navratri.’’

Traditionally, Gokulashtami has been Sena territory. It was Sena’s Thane leader, the late Anand Dighe, who brought in big money into the festival. After the Sena came to power in the state in 1999, the prize money shot up. ‘‘Yes, there is too much money in the market. Politicians have to patronise their local youths as they are an important support base,’’ says BJP state general secretary Vinod Tawade. ‘‘The Shiv Sena started utilising the youth in the politics of utsav and now every political party has latched on to it. This year, mobilisation has been tremendous as it is the election year.’’

The NCP, however, doesn’t want to be left behind. This time around, the party held at least half a dozen dahi handi events. NCP youth wing chief Jitendra Awhad offered a prize of Rs 11 lakh in Thane for the team that hit the target while the party’s Mumbai city chief Sachin Ahir offered Rs 1.55 lakh for the winning team in central Mumbai. As against the Andheri Utsav Samiti which held the event in Andheri (East) with the largest stake in the city, Rs 5 lakh. The Samiti is chaired by Shiv Sena leader and former MP Sanjay Nirupam. ‘‘This is traditionally a festival of central Mumbai — Parel, Lalbaug, Dadar. We wanted to bring it to the suburbs too,’’ says Nirupam.

At Nirupam’s event, the final breaking of the pot came on the arrival of senior Sena leader Narayan Rane. The team that won is backed by Sena MLA Bala Nandga-

onkar. ‘‘Until a few years ago, the Sena was a major force for Janmashtami, for the BJP it was Navratri,’’ says Tawde.