Foreign diplomats take darshan of Lord Ganesh in Mumbai

Diplomats from various countries were on Friday taken for darshan of Lord Ganesh at various pandals of Mumbai.

As many as 10 diplomats from 10 countries visited the Keshavji Naik Chawl at Girgaum, where the public festival was held for the first time in 1893 and remains an unbroken tradition.

They also visited Lalbaug-cha-Raja at Lalbaug, Ganesh Gully, Lalbaug, and Lalbaug, GSB Seva Mandal.

The members of the foreign diplomatic corps were accorded traditional welcome at the pandals, where they interacted with the organisers and devotees.

Maharashtra’s tourism minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha himself welcomed the diplomats.

“Ganeshutsav is the biggest festival of Maharashtra and India,” he said, adding that Directorate of Tourism and Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation has been working to take the festival to international level.

“This is religious and cultural tourism,” he said, adding that Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis have taken keen interest in hosting the diplomats and conducting them to various Ganeshutsav mandals.

Lodha said that during the remaining days of the festival, every day 10 diplomats would be hosted.

These diplomats included Israel's Kobbi Shoshani, Switzerland's Martin Mayer, Argentina's Guillermo Divoto, Belarus' Anton Poskov, Bangladesh's Chiranjeeb Sarkar, Australia's Peter Truswell, Poland's Damian Irzyk, Sri Lanka's Valsan Wethodi and Indonesia's Consul General and Britain's Deputy Head of Mission Catherine Barnes.

Before the conducted tour, MTDC managing director Jayshree Bhoj gave a briefing to them at the Gurunanak Khalsa College at Matunga. MTDC managing director Chandrashekhar Jaiswal too was present.