Power-Hungry People Having Problems With Ganesh Puja, Says PM Modi Over CJI’s House Visit Row

Bhubaneswar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday lashed out at Congress and “people in its ecosystem” for criticising his visit to Chief Justice DY Chandrachud’s residence for Ganesh Puja last week.

“The country is celebrating Hyderabad Mukti Divas today… At the time of independence, the opportunists were ready to break India into pieces to gain power. Sardar Patel came forward and united the country. He controlled the anti-India extremist powers in Hyderabad and freed it on September 17. Hyderabad Mukti Divas is not just a date but an inspiration for us regarding our responsibilities towards our country. We also have to pay attention to those challenges that are trying to push the country backwards. At a time when we are bidding farewell to Ganapati Bappa, I would like to flag an issue,” Modi said during the launch event of Subhadra Yojana in Bhubaneswar.

The PM said that Ganesh Utsav is not just a festival of faith, but it played an important role in the freedom struggle. “Dividing us in the name of castes was a weapon of the British. Bal Gangadhar Tilak used community celebrations to awaken the collective conscience of the country. Today, everyone participates in Ganesh Utsav without any discrimination… But its celebration has once again become a point of contention, much like it did during the British colonial era. The British, who followed the policy of divide and rule, used to hate Ganesh Utsav. Even today, the power-hungry people who are busy dividing and breaking society are having problems with Ganesh Puja,” he said.

“You must have noticed, Congress and people in their ecosystem for past some days are agitated because I took part in Ganapati Pujan,” he added.

Modi also highlighted a recent incident in Karnataka, where a Ganesh idol was momentarily seized by police in Bengaluru amid a protest against stone-pelting during a Ganesh immersion procession. “Lord Ganesh was put behind bars in Karnataka by these people,” he said.

The PM had mentioned about the Karnataka incident during an election rally in Haryana recently, and accused the Congress of prioritising “appeasement” politics as its “biggest goal”.