Ganesha – The Saviour in Auburn Bomb Attack

By admin Thursday July 1, 2010

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Lord Ganesha is one of the most beloved Hindu deities. In Hinduism it is believed that Ganesha is the God who can protect His devotees from any vigna or obstacle, and hence the name vigneshwara. In many parts of South Asia it is a practice to seek His protection and blessing before starting any activity or enterprise. He is also known as Ganapati and is the God of Knowledge and is invoked at the beginning of any religious function, be it a marriage, the teaching of alphabets to a child or any festival in a temple. It is believed that for the fulfillment of one’s desires, His blessing is absolutely necessary.

At around 10.30 pm on 13^th May, a car filled with petrol drums was driven at high speed into the office building of Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) office at Lidcombe, setting it instantly on fire. Luckily no one was hurt when the car exploded causing a major fire. People working in CFMEU believe it was the blessing of the Ganesha idol installed inside the office which averted a major catastrophe from happening that night.

Charishma Kaliyanda, whose mother is also a devout Ganesha worshipper, works in this office as an Apprentice Officer and educates workers on their rights and entitlements. Talking about the incident Charisma says, “When the fire started in our office, our alarm went off and within 20 minutes police and fire department came to the scene. There was a lot of damage but luckily the structural damage was limited. It is not inhabitable and staff has been relocated to another floor. The offenders drove a car through the side fence and broke the glass and doors at the entrance and set fire to the petrol smeared car. The car was stolen and it was a planned and pre mediated attack.”

Charishma is of the firm belief that Ganesha idol inside the CFMEU building averted a bigger disaster. “Ganesha was in the display in reception area and this was the first thing anyone saw while coming into the office. The idol was installed in 2005. A few years back some 4-5 Indian workers on 457 work visa came to us for help when they weren’t being paid or treated properly by their employers. They were being threatened that their legs would be broken and that they would be sent to India. We helped them also found accommodation for them in Auburn and out of gratitude they gave us a Ganesha idol.’

Adds Charishma, “When these workers got the money, the tax department took half of the money. We made an appeal to the tax department to return the taxes as this was under the tax threshold limit. The Tax department gave a ruling to give the tax back to these workers but at this time they had left the country. It was later when Radhika, another CFMEU employee visited India and took the bank order and gave this money to the workers, to the surprise of these workers. Out of gratitude they gave a Ganesha idol to CFMEU. When this idol was installed in the CFMEU office in 2005, a big pooja was performed and we got priests from the Helensberg temple to install the idol. After the arson attack, we again got the priests from Helensberg temple to bless the site. “

Charishma and other CFMEU employees belief that Ganesha averted a major disaster on that day is echoed by Andrew Fergusson, who is the NSW secretary of the CFMEU. Talking to THE INDIAN, Andrew said,” It has been bought to my attention by many of my staff members that Ganesha idol protected us. We have 3 employees here from the Indian background and we speak 15 different languages in the Union and our membership comes from many countries and we work closely with ethnic communities and community organizations. Some workers in the past wanted to make a spiritual contribution to the union and we warmly received it and it helped protect the union office 3 weeks ago.”

Adds Andrew, “Fortunately, the occupants had left minutes earlier and no-one was injured. We had a church group and men and women from the Maori community in the office and they had left the building less than an hour before the attack. Serious damage would have occurred if they would have been still inside the office. We are lucky. We feel a spiritual link to the Ganesha and want to convey our support to the community and will soon organize a big program for restoration of the idol in the future.”

Even the fire officers who attended the scene and risked their lives were lucky as they were unaware that there was petrol in the car which could have exploded at any minute. After the arson attack, priests from the Helensberg temple came to CFMEU office to bless the site.