Rain delays immersion procession

Thousands of people thronged the streets to catch a final glimpse of the city’s most famous idol, ‘Lalbaugcha Raja’, on Sunday despite the high alert in Mumbai in the wake of serial blasts in New Delhi.

Heavy rain in the morning not only reduced the crowd for the elephant god’s farewell, but also delayed the idol immersion procession, which began around 1 pm.

An undercurrent of the Mumbai-North Indian political row was felt as large groups of devotees began their journey to bid  Raja the final adieu. Many devotees were seen wearing white Gandhi caps with the slogan ‘Mumbai Marathi Mansachya Bappachich’ (Mumbai only belongs to Marathi people’s God). Banners and hoardings displaying the words were also put up in the area. Despite this, a festive spirit rent the air as devotees displayed the cosmopolitan culture of the city by dancing to the tunes of Hindi, Tamil and Marathi songs.

The faithful waited outside the Lalbaugcha Raja pandal hours before the immersion process began while a huge number of devotees gathered at Dr Babasahaeb Ambedkar Road and Sane Guruji Road junction, which was closed for vehicular traffic. Most of them started calling their friends when they realised that the Raja’s arrival was delayed due to rain.

Rajendra Devalekar, an official of the Chinchpokli South Ganeshotsav Mandal, said, “We did not receive any instructions from the police regarding security. We have our own mechanism to handle the crowd and manage the farewell procession of the Lord. Police are also capable of handling the situation. So, there was no fear among the devotees.”