Kishan Reddy Extends Chhath Puja Greetings
Synopsis
Key Takeaways
Union Coal and Mines Minister G. Kishan Reddy marked Chhath Puja 2026 with a warm greeting on Sunday, November 15, praying that Chhathi Maiya bless everyone with happiness, good health, and prosperity.
Chhathi Maiya's blessing and what the festival means
Chhath Puja is one of India's most demanding and deeply personal festivals — a multi-day ritual of fasting, standing in rivers at dusk and dawn, and offering arghya to the Sun God and Chhathi Maiya, the folk deity believed to guard the health and longevity of families. Observed most fervently in Bihar, Jharkhand, and eastern Uttar Pradesh, it has travelled with migrant communities into every major Indian city and beyond.
Reddy's greeting — 'May Chhathi Maiya bless everyone with happiness, good health and prosperity' — mirrors the festival's own central wish: not wealth or power, but wellbeing for the household.
BJP's festive outreach to the Chhath-observing belt
BJP ministers and state leaders routinely mark Chhath Puja publicly, reflecting the party's sustained electoral focus on Bihar, Jharkhand, and the urban migrant vote that carries the festival into metropolitan India. As BJP Telangana state president, Reddy also speaks to a sizable north-Indian migrant community settled in Hyderabad and other Telangana cities — communities for whom Chhath is an anchor of cultural identity far from home.