BJP leader to choose Dussehra over meeting Modi

MANALI: BJP senior leader Maheshwar Singh, who is MLA from Kullu and is the key person in organizing week long Kullu Dussehra, is in a dilemma. He is keen on attending Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public meeting in Bilaspur on October 3, but he is helpless as he has to perform many rituals of the Dussehra festivity. The 350-year-old Kullu Dussehra was started by his ancestors and has now become an international level event. He has to choose between politics and his tradition.

The Dussehra festivities in Kullu begin on September 30 and would end on October 6. “I want to welcome th PM in Bilaspur but my traditional duties always come first. I have to attend Dussehra,” Maheshwar Singh told TOI.

Dussehra is being celebrated in Kullu since 1660 in honour of Lord Raghunath, the local deity, and nearly 300 deities of district congregate in Kullu that stay here for a week to pay their obeisance to him. Every year, the festivity starts from

Rupi Palace

, which is the residence of Maheshwar Singh and

Raghunath

temple. After a special puja performed by Maheshwar, the deities come to

Dhalpur Maidan

of the township, where festivity begind officially with the pulling of Lord Raghunath’s chariot.

According to historians, the idol of Lord Raghunath was brought to Kullu in 1651 when Raja Jagat Singh was the ruler of Kullu state. Jagat Singh had dedicated the throne of Kullu to the Lord Raghunath and became his servant. Maheshwar Singh being scion of the family is ‘chhadivardar’ (prime servant) of the deity and walks ahead of the deity carrying a holy staff (chhadi). He leads the processions of deities for all seven days until festivity comes to end after Lanka Dahan.

This is not for the first time that Maheshwar, who was first elected to Lok Sabha in 1989, has had to compromise between Dussehra and politics. Mostly the dates of Dussehra and polls clash in

Himachal

and he is forced to choose the Dussehra. “Last time, too, I had to perform ceremonies and play my role in continuation of centuries-old tradition when poll campaigning was on its full swing,” Maheshwar said.