Shivjayanti: Maharashtra Celebrates The Festival With Gusto
By Priyanka, Gaea News NetworkFriday, February 19, 2010
MUMBAI, INDIA (GaeaTimes.com)- Maharashtra will celebrate shivjayanti today, 19th February, which is the birthday of its greatest monarch Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. It is said that every year the political parties take the opportunity of the birthday of Shivaji to promote their own party agenda and claim that the party maintains the legacy of the king who was a great administrator.
The Shivjayanti is celebrated by the mumbaikars who take the occasion to remember their greatest king. People bring out road processions and dress up like Shivaji. They also send SMSs to their friends and relatives to celebrate the birthday. Special Websites are providing SMSs texts for the occasion. The school and other organizations organize special occasions to propagate the knowledge of the great king. Speeches are arranged by different clubs. However, according to many residents of Mumbai, the celebration has lost its meaning now and remains like a mere show. According to them the occasion has been reduced merely to a day in which political parties take the stage to speak out false claims to the king. Mumbaikars feel that nothing is being done by the government or the other political parties to spread the ideals of the king on Shivjayanti. Shivaji Maharaj was a secular king who never discriminated between Hindus and Muslims or between lower caste or upper caste. The distorted and unclear history, however, many claim has led some parties to present the king in a wrong light.
Leaving all these complaints aside, this year too Mumbai will be a spectator to grand celebrations of Shivjayanti all around the city. Special road shows and processions are lined up for the day which might lead to road blocks. Some bus service operators have declared that they will be avoiding some routes.
