Additional Rapid Action Force and Reserve Police contingents from Telangana districts have been requisitioned by the city police to ensure incident-free rallies marking Sri Rama Navami on Friday and Hanuman Jayanthi a week later.
Three companies of RAF and policemen from districts have arrived in the city. Some of them were deployed for Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar’s 125th birth anniversary celebrations. They will continue to stay in the city till completion of Hanuman Jayanthi celebrations on April 22.
Several special parties and local police teams would move along with the processions in which thousands of devotees are expected to take part. Interestingly, there is no single procession like Ganesh idol immersion for Sri Rama Navami.
A rally led by Bhagawantha Rao Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsava Samithi will begin from Sitarambagh. A few hundred yards away, BJP rebel MLA Raja Singh is all set to start his own procession from Rani Avanti Bai Mahal in Mangalhat. For the past few years, he had been flagging off the rally from here but this time chose the Akashpuri where foundation stone was laid on Thursday for construction of a massive Hanuman statue. Both rallies will merge after a kilometre.
Video recording
Some tributary processions from Hussainialam of Old City would join it near Puranapul. Not willing to take chances, city police top brass decided to record videos of the entire rally from the beginning to the culmination point of Hanuman Vyayamshala in Koti.
In the past, processions taken out on the day of Sri Ram Navami didn’t trigger any communal tension. Earlier, an attempt to divert the rally towards Charminar at Siddimaber bazar took the police off guard though they controlled it using mild force.
Police are believed to have rounded up some youngsters from different localities to ensure they didn’t indulge in any violent activity. “At least 50 of my followers were arrested by police from Mangalhat, Dhoolpet and Musheerabad. This is illegal,” charged Raja Singh stating that such arrests would disturb communal harmony.
