Maharashtra Niwas drops Didi, invites CM, guv for Ganesh Puja inauguration
Times of India | 13 September 2026An organiser of the Maharashtra Niwas puja said invitations had been sent to both, but no confirmation had been received.
Amid the changed political scene, the organisers have dropped Banerjee’s name from the invitee list. She had regularly visited the Ganesh Puja at Maharashtra Niwas on Hazra Road from a time when she was an opposition MP in Bengal. The trend continued for the 15 years she was the CM, barring only one year, said an official of Maharashtra Niwas. It was also the venue of many internal meetings of the Trinamool Congress.
“We have invited CM Suvendu Adhikari and Governor R N Ravi to our puja. We are yet to receive any confirmation about their presence,” said Shrikant Vaishampayan, president of Maharashtra Mandal, which organises the Ganesh Puja at the Niwas. “We did not invite Banerjee this time. We do not want to get into any political controversy,” said a Mandal member.
Adhikari inaugurated two Ganesh Pujas — at Kestopur and Dum Dum — on Saturday.
At Maharashtra Niwas, the puja will be held sticking to the almanac. “The puja will be held between Sept 14 and Sept 25. Ganesh Puja begins on Chaturthi and ends on Chaturdashi,” said Vaishampayan, a resident of Kolkata since 1972.
The Mahaprasad will be organised on Sunday. For years, it has been arranged on the first Sunday after the puja begins.
Maharashtra Niwas, the building with lodging facility, was set up in the 1930s. A popular canteen at the Niwas was shut down during Covid and never reopened.
The Maharashtra Mandal, an association of Maharashtrians in Kolkata, precedes the Niwas. “The Mandal organised the first Ganesh Puja in 1924 on the same premises. The Niwas’ building did not exist at that time. Lord Ganesha was worshipped within a small area surrounding the Mandal’s office,” said Diwakar Joshi, manager of Maharashtra Niwas, who has spent over three decades managing and looking after the property. Joshi’s father was a priest at the Niwas since the 1950s and passed away last year.
A large pandal has been erected and the members are waiting for the deity to arrive.
A community member said more than 500 Maharashtrian families lived in Kolkata even about 15 or 20 years ago. During the pre-Independence era, the Bengal-Nagpur Railways (BNR) created a crucial link between Bengal and Maharashtra, and allowed easy commute for people, a community member said. The numbers have now dwindled to about 100 families, said Vaishampayan. “Many people have migrated for jobs. Many went back to the native places after retirement,” he said.
