The Hindu community in Pakistan celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi Visarjan in the vibrant city of Karachi last week, leaving Indian netizens startled, as many were surprised to see such a large and open display of Hindu festivals across the border.
Ganesh Chaturthi Visarjan is a festival that marks the birth of Lord Ganesha, the god of wisdom in the Hindu religion.
Several videos surfaced online, showing the palanquin (palki) of Lord Ganesh being carried from Mirpur Mathelo Colony and travelling 30 kilometres to Mathelo Sahib, where the idol of Lord Ganesha was immersed in the Indus River.
The video also shows thousands of Hindu devotees embarking on a spiritual journey, walking and dancing the entire path while chanting bhajans and singing praises of their Lord.
As the videos were disseminated all over social media, some Indian netizens did not believe the festival had been celebrated in Pakistan.
“Ye Pakistan hai hi nahi pagal kisko bana rahy hu Ye Mumbai Ka koi jagah hai Maine Dekha bhi hai same (Who are you making a fool of? This isn’t even Pakistan. This is somewhere in Mumbai. I’ve even seen it. It looks exactly the same),” said incredulous user in the comments section of the viral reel on Instagram.
“These videos are fake; Pakistan cannot show such a view,” said another user.
“But we are shown another angle of Pakistan on the news,” a third user expressed awe, exposing Indian hypernationalist media. “Bollywood kay bahir ki dunya (World outside Bollywood),” mocked one person, pointing to the increasingly anti-Pakistan sentiment being shown in the film industry.
“It is good. Now, we have come to know through social media that the Hindu community in Pakistan celebrates all festivals in the country. Otherwise, we were told that they were barred from celebrating it,” said another netizen.
Meanwhile, sharing a video on X (formerly Twitter), one person wrote, “This scene is not from Maharashtra or Gujarat. It is from Pakistan, where all Hindus came together and celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi with great enthusiasm.”
Last month, members of Pakistan’s Hindu community became the subject of a viral video showing them celebrating Krishna Janmashtami in Sindh’s Hyderabad.
The woman recording the video can be heard challenging the claim that Pakistan had a declining Hindu population amid persecution, highlighting the number of participants at the annual festival celebrating the birth of Krishna.
“You cannot imagine how many people are here. I have never seen [so many] people at Janmashtami anywhere in my life,” she said in the video that was purportedly recorded on Aug 16 when the festival was celebrated.