Note ban takes toll on dandiya raas

Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'demonitisation' masterstroke has taken a toll on the city's Navratri sponsorships. Several dandiya event organisers claim the number of sponsors and the amount spent on garba events has gone down by 30-50 per cent vis-a-vis last year.

In fact, many politicians, who earlier pumped in money for the 10-day festival have pulled out this year.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Mumbai president Sachin Ahir, said the November 2016 demonetisation move is one of the reasons behind him pulling out.

“Earlier, lots of companies  would come ahead for sponsoring, but this year there has been a drop,” he said. He added that all the big sponsors have given it a miss this year. “The builder lobby has also backed out since many of them do not have many active projects on hand for marketing at garba events." Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam, who is known to organise big garba events too has backed out from this year’s garba event.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Krishna Hedge who did not organise any garba event said that he was too busy with party work. “The party has given me a responsibility of enrolling people into membership. I am busy with that,” he said.

Shivanand Shetty, an event organiser for Falguni Pathak dandiya event said, “Overall, the sponsorship has come down by at least 50 per cent. Apart from premium clubs that bank on membership, sponsors for independent organisers has come down drastically. This year, it has been difficult to findsponsors.”