The story
Pune Ganeshotsav in Pune
Pune's Ganeshotsav traces to 1893, when Lokmanya Tilak turned private Ganesh worship into a public festival that let Indians organize openly under British rule. Five mandals called the Panchganpati, led by Kasba Ganpati, still hold precedence in the immersion procession down Laxmi Road, a tradition distinct from the sweets-shop-founded Dagdusheth Halwai Ganpati and from Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations in other Maharashtra cities.
On 19 February 1893, the sweet-seller Dagdusheth Halwai installed a public Ganesh idol in Pune's Budhwar Peth after losing his only son to plague, an act of grief that Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak folded into a wider strategy the same year when he began promoting Ganeshotsav as a Sarvajanik, or public, festival.