CM Rekha Gupta meets BJP Purvanchal Morcha ahead of Chhath
Synopsis
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta met BJP Purvanchal Morcha president Santosh Ojha and workers on 17 October 2026, discussing upcoming Chhath Mahaparv arrangements and reaffirming the government's commitment to dignified, well-facilitated celebrations for the city's Purvanchal devotees.
Key Takeaways
Delhi CM Rekha Gupta met Santosh Ojha , president of the Delhi BJP Purvanchal Morcha , on 17 October 2026 .
Preparations for Chhath Mahaparv were a central topic of the meeting's discussions.
CM Gupta pledged that every devotee in Delhi should be able to celebrate Chhath 'with full reverence, dignity, and convenience.' The Purvanchal community — migrants from Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh — forms a significant voter and cultural bloc in the capital.
The meeting reflects the BJP 's established practice of morcha-level outreach ahead of major community festivals in urban centres.
With Chhath Mahaparv weeks away, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta sat down on Saturday, 17 October 2026 with Santosh Ojha, president of the Delhi BJP Purvanchal Morcha, and a room full of the morcha's grassroots workers — a pointed signal that the capital's largest migrant festival is already a government priority.
Posting in Hindi after the meeting, CM Gupta described the Purvanchal community's contribution to Delhi's growth as 'invaluable' — underlining their 'hard work, talent, and values.' She praised the morcha's workers for connecting people and giving voice to their aspirations with 'a spirit of service, dedication, and warmth.'
Chhath preparations centre-stage at the meeting
The gathering was not merely ceremonial. According to CM Gupta's post, the meeting included 'meaningful discussion' on preparations for the upcoming Chhath Mahaparv — the festival of unbroken faith in Chhathi Maiya (the Sun deity's sister) that she called 'a symbol of our rich cultural heritage.' Her stated commitment: that every devotee in Delhi should be able to offer prayers 'with full reverence, dignity, and convenience.'
Chhath is among the most logistically demanding festivals in the capital. Hundreds of thousands of devotees from Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh throng river ghats, parks, and water bodies across Delhi over four days of rituals — including pre-dawn and sunset offerings in open water — requiring extensive coordination on crowd management, cleanliness, lighting, and safety.
The Purvanchal Morcha and BJP's migrant outreach
The Purvanchal Morcha is one of the BJP's formal frontal organisations, designed to maintain organisational links with migrants from eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar who have settled in urban centres like Delhi. The community forms a substantial and politically consequential voter bloc in the capital.
Party leaders routinely engage these morchas ahead of major festivals — combining logistical planning with community outreach. The hashtag #ViksitDelhi appended to the post ties the interaction to the BJP's broader 'developed Delhi' messaging, framing cultural inclusion as part of the city's development story.
For CM Gupta, getting the Chhath arrangements right is both a governance test and a community compact — and this meeting was the opening move.
Point of View
Make the community feel seen, and convert logistical goodwill into political capital ahead of one of Delhi's most-attended public celebrations. For CM Gupta, who leads a government still cementing its footprint in the capital, delivering smooth Chhath arrangements at the ghats would be a visible governance win with an emotionally invested constituency. The #ViksitDelhi tag is a deliberate thread — stitching cultural welfare into the party's development narrative rather than treating festival management as a standalone obligation. Watch whether the pre-meeting rhetoric translates into tangible ghat infrastructure and crowd-management upgrades over the coming weeks.
NationPress
17 Oct 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Santosh Ojha and what is the Purvanchal Morcha?
Santosh Ojha is the president of the Delhi BJP Purvanchal Morcha , a frontal organisation of the BJP that represents migrants from eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar living in Delhi.
What is Chhath Mahaparv and why is it significant in Delhi?
Chhath Mahaparv is a major Hindu festival dedicated to the Sun God and Chhathi Maiya , observed over four days with rituals at open water bodies. It draws hundreds of thousands of devotees from the Purvanchal community across Delhi's ghats and parks, making it one of the capital's largest public festivals.
What did CM Rekha Gupta say about Chhath preparations?
CM Gupta stated that her government's commitment is to ensure every devotee in Delhi can worship Chhathi Maiya 'with full reverence, dignity, and convenience,' following discussions with the Purvanchal Morcha on festival arrangements.
Why does BJP have a Purvanchal Morcha?
The BJP operates frontal morchas — including the Purvanchal Morcha — to maintain organisational and community ties with specific regional migrant groups in large cities. The Purvanchal community is a politically significant bloc in Delhi.
When is Chhath Puja 2026?
The exact dates of Chhath Puja 2026 fall in late October to early November, following Diwali; CM Gupta's 17 October meeting signals that government preparations are already under way.
