Kishan Reddy Performs Puja At Khairatabad Ganesh

Union minister and Telangana BJP president G Kishan Reddy today visited the Khairatabad Ganesh pandal and offered prayers.

On the occasion, Reddy waxed eloquent about the festival. He said that the Ganesh navratri celebrations were being celebrated by Hindus across the globe with increasing devotion each year. He said that the British government had banned gatherings during the Ganesh navratris in the days that it ruled India, and that freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak first started organizing them in an attempt to bring Indians together. That pre-independence movement had grown to today being one of the largest festival celebrations in India, he said.

Getting more contextual, Reddy said that in the year 1980, for the first time, mass Ganesh processions were started in Hyderabad under the leadership of "Tiger" Narendra. He added that even before that celebrations were organized under the leadership of the late Sudarshan and Sankaraiah of the Khairatabad Utsava Samithi. He said that such celebrations had brought about unity among the Hindus in the State capital.

He also said that due to the efforts of the Khairatabad Utsava Samithi and the Bhagyanagar Utsav Samithi, people from across the country were coming to the city to see the Ganesh festival celebrations here.

He however claimed that there were attempts and conspiracies to harm the unity of the Hindu community at the international level, and asked people to stay wary.