The city was enveloped under a blanket of saffron and the streets were decked with flags, banners and buntings for Hanuman Jayanti celebrations in which thousands of devotees participated in the ‘Sri Veer Hanuman Shobha Yatra' organised by the Bajrang Dal, amid fervour on Friday.
Riding motorcycles, the participants, mostly youngsters, gathered at the Sri Ram Mandir, Gowliguda, to offer special prayers after which VHP leader Praveen Togadia flagged off the rally. The rally passed through Badi Chowdi, Narayanaguda, RTC Crossroads, Ashoknagar, Gandhinagar, Kavadiguda, Bansilalpet, R.P. Road, Paradise Circle, Balamrai and ended at the Tadban Hanuman temple in Secunderabad, peacefully, much to the relief of the police.
‘Aarthi' offered
The devout lined up either side of the streets to welcome the rally, while women offered ‘aarthi' as slogans of ‘Jai Sri Ram' and ‘Jai Bajrang Bali' rent the air along the route. Dozens of makeshift pandals were erected throughout to offer prasadam and water to participants. Youth associations and temple committees also organised processions and joined the main rally to reach Tadban.
With the traffic police putting restrictions and diversions, vehicular traffic got affected at several places while the rally was in progress. Addressing the gathering at Tadban, Dr. Togadia said a campaign would be launched against reservation for Muslims from April 16, starting with distribution of one crore pamphlets across the country from April 9. “We will use social media like Facebook apart from organising demonstrations,” he said.
Police flayed
At Gowliguda, Dr. Togadia criticised the police for opposing the rally and wondered why they don't raise similar objections for other religious programmes.
He said the VHP had started a 24-hour Hindu helpline - 020-6680 3300 or facility for browsing, www.vhp.org. or www.vhp.ap.org, to propagate its activities.
