Devotees taking part in ‘Shobha Yatra’ in the city on Friday.
Take out processions from different parts of the city on Hanuman Jayanti
Clad in saffron kurta and ‘pagdi’ and waving saffron flags, thousands of youngsters took out processions from different parts of the city on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti on Friday, which passed off peacefully amid tight security. The sudden showers in the evening did not stop them from reaching the Tadbund temple.
The centralised procession along the 12-km route from Gowliguda Ram Mandir started at around 1 p.m. and reached Sri Tadbund Veeranjaneya Swamy temple at Secunderabad at around 8 p.m.
The ‘Veera Hanuman Vijaya Yatra’ organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal passed through Osmania Medical College, Andhra Bank Crossroads at Koti, Sultan Bazaar, Narayanaguda, RTC Crossroads, Kavadiguda, Ranigunj and Paradise Crossroads and culminated at a meeting at Imperial Gardens of Sikh Village, after the devotees visited the Tadbund temple, where ‘maha haarati’ was performed.
Thousands of policemen from all the three Commissionerates – Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda – were on their toes to ensure smooth passage of the main procession as the occasion coincided with Friday prayers at mosques and Good Friday.
Peaceful celebrations
There were apprehensions that the three events falling on the same day might result in law and order problems. However, Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar said the ethos of a pluralistic society manifested when the three events of different communities were celebrated peacefully. Elaborate security arrangements were made with the deployment of nearly 8,000 policemen by the Hyderabad police alone. The entire procession was monitored from the Command Control Room at Basheerbagh with the help of 481 CCTV cameras and four vehicles mounted with high-definition cameras for better surveillance.
All the mosques en route the processions were concealed using large canvas tents to avoid drawing attention to them and special police parties were deployed at sensitive spots.
Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Kumar said over 60,000 devotees took part in the Shobha Yatra, which mostly included bike rallies. “As many as 195 tributary processions joined the main Shobha Yatra, which passes through 43 temples, 14 mosques, five churches, two Jain temples and one Gurudwara,” he said.
The entire route reverberated with ‘Jai Sri Ram’ and ‘Jai Bajarangbali’ slogans raised by the youngsters, who were seen dancing to devotional songs.
Officers congratulated
Later in the evening, the Commissioner congratulated all the officers of Hyderabad city police for ensuring incident-free Hanuman Jayanti.