Watch: Hyderabad Ganesh immersion sees revival of political campaign songs

Political and regional campaign tracks are finding a new audience among young revellers during Ganesh immersion festivities at Hyderabad’s Tank Bund. Viral videos have amplified the trend online, while police restrictions on sound systems and competing political narratives have added to tensions

Hyderabad: Call it a subculture or a rebellious streak among young people in Hyderabad, the ongoing Ganesh immersion festivities at Tank Bund are witnessing a revival of high-energy regional and political campaign tracks.

Songs such as Chal Dekh Lenge, a high-energy campaign track widely associated with the BRS during election season, featuring catchy beats and defiant lyrics, are suddenly resonating strongly with young crowds turning out in large numbers at Tank Bund for the Ganesh immersion.

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It is as if the track has found a second life as a viral festival dance number. Revellers have been playing it on loop from their sound systems, particularly while passing the Telangana Secretariat.

The upbeat atmosphere, however, has not been without friction. With police enforcing strict crowd-control measures, decibel caps and heavy restrictions on DJ setups around key transit points, law enforcement personnel have frequently stepped in to cut power to large sound systems.

In some instances, minor scuffles and brief lathi interventions broke out as authorities attempted to clear traffic bottlenecks and prevent heavy vehicles from entering barricaded zones.

What happens on the streets, however, is quickly migrating to screens. Over the past week, short video clips and Instagram reels capturing youngsters dancing to these tracks near Hussain Sagar have flooded social media feeds, turning routine celebrations into an online political flashpoint.

The trend escalated as competing political camps attempted to claim the narrative online. In some instances, ruling-party social media handles allegedly downloaded select original user reels and repurposed the footage with alternative audio edits for damage control. The strategy, however, backfired when the original content creators stepped forward to publicly call out the unauthorised use, accusing political handles of content theft.