Lalbaugcha Raja Ganesh idol stuck at sea during visarjan: ‘He stayed to give darshan’

After the immersion of Lalbaugcha Raja was delayed, devotees took to social media to claim that Bappa had stayed back to give them darshan.

Around 9pm on Sunday night, fervent chants of ‘Pudhchya varshi lavkar yaa (Come soon next year)’ rose in the air around Girgaon Chowpatty as thousands of devotees gathered to immerse the Lalbaugcha Raja Ganesh idol in the sea. For many, it had been a very long wait to witness the visarjan — the idol is usually immersed around 9am on the day after the Anant Chaturdashi, but the visarjan was delayed by 12 hours this time.

Why the delay?

Mumbai, India – 07, Sept 2025: After nearly 24 hours of procession, the immersion of Lalbaugcha Raja reached its final stage, but minor hurdles in placing the idol on the raft cause a temporary delay, at Girgaon Chowpatty, in Mumbai, India, on Sunday, Sept 07, 2025. (Photo by Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo)

The visarjan (immersion) of the Lalbaugcha Raja idol was delayed this year mainly because of the high tide at Girgaon Chowpatty and a technical snag.

The procession, which began from Lalbaug on Saturday afternoon, reached Chowpatty on Sunday morning around 8am. However, by that time, the tide had already started rising.

Another reason for the delay was a technical snag with the immersion process. Traditionally, a mechanised raft is used to carry the 18-feet-tall idol into the sea. But this year, the Mandal introduced a new electrically operated raft. Volunteers struggled to transfer the idol from the trolley onto the raft because of the waist-deep water and strong currents.

After the immersion of Lalbaugcha Raja was delayed for the first time ever, dozens of devotees took to social media to call it divine justice and a balancing of the scales.

The devotees slammed VIP culture at the pandal that made it difficult for the common man to get darshan of Bappa.

“Lalbaugcha Raja has decided to stay & give proper darshan to all those devotees who wanted to see him dolebharun & were shoved & pushed away by the arrogant management,” wrote one X user.

“VIPs got the red-carpet, commoners got rope-burns. Bappa held off immersion till the scales were balanced,” X user Akriti Sharma said, noting how VIPs left after darshan, but commoners stayed behind to witness the moment.

“In the end, while the VIPs slipped away after their darshan, it was the common devotees who stayed, endured, and finally saw Bappa home. Almost as if He refused to drown until the lesson was clear: devotion knows no status, and justice waits for the patient,” she wrote.

“Man Proposes, God Disposes”

Several X users also pointed out how the idol has traditionally been immersed using boats of the Koli community fishermen.

“This year the organisers bought a hi-tech boat built in Gujarat. And the idol is stranded at the beach since last 8 hours. Man Proposes, God Disposes,” wrote one person on X.

Priya Adivarekar said she was “heartbroken” to see “Lalbaug cha Raja waiting since 8+ hours for a proper immersion”.

“High tide happens every year, though this is more of a technical issue due to the new boat. Earlier, Bappa would always travel back home in the ‘Tafa’ prepared by the Koli community,” she said.

“It’s a slap on management of the pandal who are hungry for only VIPs and treat common devotees like trash. This time Ganpati Bappa punished this pandal management by not letting the immersion happen,” another said.

X user Deepak Prabhu also noted how devotees stand in lines for hours for a glimpse of Bappa. “Lalbaugh Cha Raja is facing immersion issues. People say he is angry because the trustees in their greed have crushed the emotions of the common devotee who stand hours in the queue for a glimpse of the raja,” he said.