Maharashtra: Home Minister Amit Shah to visit Lalbaugcha Raja tomorrow

Union Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to visit Lalbaugcha Raja Ganesh in Mumbai tomorrow, a tradition he upholds annually. Following this visit, he will also make stops at the residences of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.Earlier, a near stampede-like situation was witnessed at Mumbai's famous Lalbaugcha Raja on the second day of the 10 day Ganesh Festival. Huge crowd of devotees pushed each other and caused a near stampede like situation as they struggled to catch a glimpse of Lord Ganesha on Wednesday.

The history of the Lalbaugcha Raja is quite famous as it is the popular Ganesh idol of Lalbaugcha Raja Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal, located at Putlabai Chawl, a place of worship founded in 1934. The Lalbaugcha Raja Ganapati idol has been taken care of by the Kambli family for over eight decades. Lalbaughcha Raja offers two types of queue for the devotees, one is Mukh darshan while the other is Charan Sparsh line or Navas darshan line wherein devotees can go up to the stage and touch Lord Ganesha's feet.In Maharashtra, the festival is celebrated with much fanfare in Mumbai and other parts of the state with lakhs of devotees converging into mandals to seek blessing from Lord Ganesha.