New Delhi, Oct 18: A 30-foot cockroach effigy set to be burnt at a Delhi Ramlila event has sparked controversy, with organisers defending it as a cleanliness awareness initiative.
The Shree Keshav Ram Leela Committee, which organises the annual event in Pitampura, said the cockroach represents filth and dirt. The initiative, it said, aims to promote cleanliness under the Swachh Bharat and Swachh Delhi campaigns.
Committee president and BJP MLA Ashok Goel said the decision was not politically motivated and was intended to reinforce the message of good triumphing over evil while drawing attention to cleanliness.
The cockroach will be depicted as one of the asuras in Ravan’s army, Goel said.
The announcement has drawn criticism from social media users, some of whom argue that introducing contemporary political references into a religious celebration risks hurting sentiments and distracting from the festival’s traditional significance.
“Dussehra symbolises the victory of good over evil. Why turn this beautiful tradition into a platform for contemporary political rivalries?” one user wrote, urging people to ensure festivals unite communities rather than deepen political divisions.
Another user argued that equating Ravan with a cockroach would not affect the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), but could hurt Hindu sentiments.
Others questioned the religious basis of the initiative and alleged that the festival was being used to advance a political message.
“As a Hindu, this is very disrespectful to the religion and everything that I tend to follow in my life. They are politicising Hinduism and mixing things for their own benefit,” another user said.
The proposed effigy-burning has also prompted questions about its environmental implications, with one social media user asking why a large effigy needed to be burnt when Delhi was already grappling with air pollution.
The controversy comes amid demonstrations by the Cockroach Janata Party in the national capital.
The group had earlier protested against former education minister Dharmendra Pradhan and has now joined demonstrations demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Goel, however, said the committee had used its annual effigy-burning tradition to highlight various social evils in previous years.
Last year, the committee burnt an effigy representing Naxalism, while an effigy symbolising terrorism was burnt the year before, he said.
The committee maintains that the cockroach effigy is intended to carry a message about cleanliness. The debate, meanwhile, has centred on whether the initiative fits the religious occasion or risks drawing the festival into contemporary political and social disputes.