Should traditional fairs be inaugurated by ministers?

Minister Vajubhai Vala and Dilip Sanghani sitting in ride after inaugurating traditional Janmashtami fair in Rajkot
21 August, 2011
By Japan K Pathak

Some times back while visiting famous Vautha fair near Ahmedabad, when I heard that it was inaugurated by former minister and local leader Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, I was taken by surprise, because I had a long experience that fairs were not inaugurated by anyone in the past! On a traditional date as per the Gujarati calendar, fairs used to begin on their own.

It is for past some years, that a practice has been started to inaugurate the traditional fairs. Government ministers inaugurate the fairs whether it is Siddhpur fair, or Rajkot’s Janmashtami fair or others(this piece of article I am writing after reading that Gujarat’s two Cabinet ministers yesterday opened Janmashtami fair in Rajkot). I feel strange about a new practice of inauguration of fairs that are centuries old and are hold as per the tradition on their own.

So if such kinds of inauguration become routine, in future what kinds of inaugurations may take place?

-There’s first rain, and the ministers will inaugurate monsoon in their areas of hold.
-When there’s new flow of water in the rivers, the ministers will will inaugurate the river.
-When auspicious month of Shravan will begin, the ministers will formally inaugurate this month.
-The ministers will inaugurate the season of spring(and district authority would ask gardener that flowers should bloom, Cuckoos should voice and trees should start ornamenting only after formal inauguration by honorable minister).