Pumped by Exit Poll findings, 'Bada Mangal' celebrations scaled up in Lucknow

Lucknow : Pumped up by the findings of the Exit Polls carried out by different agencies, BJP leaders and supporters in Lucknow are now planning to scale up celebrations for the second ‘Bada Mangal’ festival on Tuesday, the day counting of votes for the Lok Sabha elections will be taken up.

“Now that the Exit Polls have confirmed the expected outcome of the Lok Sabha polls, we are preparing for celebrations. The 'bhandara' (community feast) being organised by us will now have more items. Apart from the traditional puri-sabzi, we are adding ice-cream and sherbet to beat the heat. Moreover, the bhandara will continue till late in the evening, instead of winding up at around 4.p.m,” said Pankaj Rastogi, a BJP leader from the Chowk area of the city.

Ritwik Lal, another BJP supporter, said that initially he was planning to distribute sweets if the BJP returned to power, but now he has decided to hold a bhandara where people will get a full meal, apart from ‘lassi and kulfi’.

Rajiv Sharma plans to distribute stationery and pencil boxes to children by setting up a stall near the famous Aliganj Hanuman temple.

"Since there are already about a dozen food stalls in and around the temple, I thought it would be better to give stationery items to poor children who can use them in school when they reopen next month. This will be my thanksgiving to God for BJP’s success,” Sharma said, adding that he has purchased around 700 pencil boxes for distribution.

A leading sweet shop owner, meanwhile, said that the orders he had initially received for ‘laddoos’ to be distributed on ‘Bada Mangal’ on Tuesday increased manifold after the Exit Poll findings were released on Saturday.

“The celebrations are being scaled up in a big way. Parties and individuals are preparing massive celebrations -- more so since the counting of votes coincides with the Bada Mangal festival. We have already started the process of making laddoos since yesterday, putting everything else on hold, because we have to deliver the orders on Tuesday morning,” he said.

Pandit Sripati, a priest at the Hanuman temple in the Chowk area, said, “We are suddenly flooded with requests for decoration of the temples but we have already made bookings weeks ago. So now, we are allowing devotees to decorate the outer side of the temples and put up lights because the temples are likely to remain open till late in the night.”