Mumbai

The Worli area of ​​Mumbai, Maharashtra, is famous for the celebration of the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi and the Hindu-Muslim unity. Local Muslims not only take part in pulling the chariot carrying the idol of Lord Ganesha but also offer flowers to it as a mark of devotion.

According to the news channel ABP, several areas of Mumbai offered examples of Hindu-Muslim unity during the ongoing Ganesh festival that is celebrated on a huge scale in the State of Maharashtra.

 Hindus and Muslims jointly pulled the chariot of Ganesha together.

The festival preparations started all over Maharashtra many days ago and it would end on August 31 with the ritualistic immersion of the idol.

Muslims participating in Chariot pulling of Lord Ganesha in Worli, Mumbai

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, no festival was celebrated with fanfare for the last two years. It is for the first time after a gap of two years that the Ganesh Chaturthi festival is being celebrated with great fanfare and tradition.

Ganesh Chaturthi is going to be celebrated with great fanfare this year after two years in Worli too. Shree Ganesh Seva Mandal in Mumbai's Worli area has been installing Ganapati Bappa during the Ganesh festival for the past 100 years.

The most special thing about Shree Ganesh Seva Mandal is that when the idol of Lord Ganesha is installed for prayers, both Hindus and Muslims welcome it with flowers and garlands and everyone gathers around to celebrate this festival.

Arvind, president of Shri Ganesh Seva Mandal in Worli, said that the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi has been celebrated here for the last 100 years. He said that the special thing about this pooja Mandal is that both Hindus and Muslims celebrate the Ganesh Chaturthi festival together. When the idol of Ganesha arrives, the people of the Muslim community offer flowers to it.

A scene from the Ganesh Chaturthi festival of Worli

Arvind further said that there is a chariot, especially one that has been decorated by the Muslim community, which is pulled jointly by members of both communities.

While another Muslim said he had been specially invited to celebrate this festival. “This time the people of Shree Ganesh Seva Mandal invited me, the way they come to our Eid we come to their puja,” he said.

He said: ‘Hindus, Muslims, and Christians are all brothers. We have to live here together and celebrate each other's festivals together when the atmosphere of brotherhood will be established in other parts of the country and the people of this country will be able to develop.”

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He further said he had come to spread love. “We are here to remove the hatred that is prevalent in society,” he said.