Tarun Nandi, Kolkata

For the eighth consecutive year, Ganesh Chaturthi was celebrated in Haroa village of Basirhat in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, bringing together people from different religions and castes.

Ganesh Chaturthi, also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi, is one of India’s major Hindu festivals and marks the birth of Lord Ganesha, the elephant-headed deity widely revered as the remover of obstacles and the god of wisdom and new beginnings. The festival is traditionally observed during the Hindu month of Bhadrapada, generally falling between August and September, and is celebrated with prayers, public gatherings, cultural programmes and the distribution of prasad. In many parts of the country, particularly Maharashtra, the festival has evolved into a major public celebration.

In Haroa, however, the festival has also become an occasion for people of different communities to come together.

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From the morning, the area remained bustling with local men, women and people of all age groups who gathered to participate in the Ganesh Puja. After the rituals, devotees and visitors happily received prasad.

Several political and social figures were also present at the puja. BJP state member Susan Vaidya, Basirhat organisational district BJP youth wing secretary Pratik Aich and Haroa No. 1 Mandal BJP vice-president Partha Chatterjee attended the event as special guests.

Among those present were minority leader Rezaul Mollah, Dr Suraj Mondal, Chhoti Laskar, Tanmoy Debnath, Tarak Hazra, Bijoy Mali, Raju Parui, Manoj Biswas and Anup Biswas.

Committee members Soumen Das, Mithun Das, Bhaskar Das, Sujoy Mali, Bhagyadhar Mondal and Bhaskar Mondal, among others, also played an important role in organising the puja.

Rezaul Molla, who participated in the celebrations, said, "It feels great to be able to participate in Ganesh Puja together, both Hindus and Muslims. I hope that we can all stay together like this in the future as well."

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The eighth consecutive year of the celebration in Haroa thus once again saw the festival becoming a shared community occasion, with people from different social and religious backgrounds participating together.