Is the YSRCP government in Andhra Pradesh landing itself in another soup? After ending up with egg on its face on the handling of Ganesh festival, it appears to be committing the same error of judgement on the issue of Vijaya Dasami festival, which is quite popular in the state.

The government is contemplating to ask the devout to stay indoors and celebrate the Dasara festivities at home. He said that in times of Covid, there should be no public celebrations. At the same time, there is no restriction on public protests, party meetings and other programmes. This again has the potential to make the Hindus feel aggrieved and ignored. Minister Botsa Satyanarayana’s comments gave an impression that the Government cares two hoots for the feeling of the Hindus. He said sarcastically that even the Goddess knows that there is Corona.

Already, the YSRCP is being accused of being insensitive towards the Hindu sentiments. There were a spate of attacks on the temple and there is no action whatsoever on the culprits. No cases and no chargesheets in any of these cases. Even in case of Ramatirtham and Antarvedi, there is no action and no culprit booked. The ban on Ganesha festivities too has caused a hurt to the Hindus.

If the government gets tough on Dasara and bans the public celebrations, it would end up being seen as anti-Hindu. There is a general feeling that there were no restrictions on the public celebrations by the people belonging to the other religious persuasions. This could harm the YSRCP in the long run.