Hinduism has become the easiest target for all sorts of defamation and ridicule. We often observe the acts of pseudo-secular and liberals who try their best to mock our festivals, our culture, rituals, and even Gods. A recent such act happened on the occasion of Ganesha Chaturthi, which is one of the biggest Hindu festivals and it has been celebrated across India.
Hindus across the world make idols of God Ganesh and then offer puja, which starts from Bhadrapad Shudh Chaturthi and ends on Ananta Chaturdashi. After that, the visarjan process is performed. People do use this occasion to utilize unique themes to spread awareness on any important social issue. We have seen eco-friendly idol creations from the last couple of years on the same line.
However, in the name of trying unique ideas to spread awareness, an NGO in Madhya Pradesh’s Mhow town has done something so weird, that it has experienced a severe backlash. This NGO has made an idol of Lord Ganesha holding sanitary napkins in his hands to spread awareness about the importance of menstrual hygiene.
The NGO named ‘Aniwarya’, which works to spread awareness on menstrual hygiene and distributes sanitary pads across the country has tried to depict Lord Ganesha in the form of a responsible husband promoting menstrual hygiene by holding sanitary napkins in both hands. The organization has installed the idol in its office in Mhow.
In accordance with the theme, Goddesses Riddhi and Siddhi have also been placed on both sides of Lord Ganesha’s idol. NGO founder Ankit Bagdi said that “After movie Bahubali hit theatres, the Lord had appeared in Bahubali avatar (image) on Ganesha festival, so I thought why can’t he take this message forward on menstrual hygiene.”
He further added that “We are celebrating ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’, so I thought why not devote the festival theme on women’s freedom to menstrual hassles”.
As the news report had gone viral, a huge number of people objected to this weird theme calling it disrespectful to the Hindu deities, which is very much correct.
Well, spreading the awareness is not bad at all, but one must understand that there must be a correct way to perform such awareness campaigns. This is absolutely ridiculous to misuse Hindu festivals for such acts, and what is the connection of Ganesh Chaturthi with the menstrual cycle?
Also, what is the logic behind linking a menstrual cycle and women’s freedom with God Ganesh’s idol? Can they dare to do the same with deities of other religions? Why do they try to mock Hindus every time? Why it is required to bring Hindu gods in their nefarious agenda every time? Why Hindu festivals are used to create so-called awareness? Why don’t we see these NGOs during Bakri-eid, Christmas, and several other festivals?
It seems the NGO owners only wanted to create a controversy to garner some TRP’s and support in the name of Feminism and Wokenism. As per the latest update, after drawing massive flak for the depiction of God Ganesha in a theme that has courted controversy, the said NGO has apologized for the same.
However, this should not be done and dusted just like that, we demand the MP government to take stern action against this NGO and its owners, who inadvertently try to malign Hinduism for their vested interests.
We don’t demand blasphemous laws like Islamic countries, but such blatant and biased shaming of Hinduism must stop, and whomsoever is indulged in such activities must be punished as per the existing laws, and if existing laws are not adequate, then Government must frame effective laws to keep such elements in check.
This happens because no serious action is taken by the govt of the day to severely punish the wrongdoers. These are done intentionally to hurt the sentiments of believers and has to be curbed with an iron hand so that anybody will think twice before committing such blasphemy.