It was saffron all the way as a massive ‘Sri Ram Navami Shobha Yatra’ led by lone BJP legislator T. Raja Singh wound its way through the city here on Sunday with the participation of thousands of devotees.
Organisers performed puja to giant idols of Lord Sri Rama, goddess Sita, Laxmana and Hanuman, and carried them in decorated trucks from Seetharambagh temple around noon.
Several smaller processions joined the main shobha yatra.
Braving the heat
The environs of Dhoolpet, Mangalhat, Begum Bazaar and surrounding areas reverberated with ‘Jai Sri Ram’ slogans as people, braving the blistering heat were seen waving the saffron flags, collectively chanted the words at the top of their lungs.
Hundreds of policemen were on their toes to ensure that none of the devotees behaved out of line.
When the procession reached Upper Dhoolpet around 3.30 p.m., Mr Raja Singh, who has been organising the shobha yatra for the past several years, stood atop the music system on a truck and started singing devotional songs.
Provoking statement
As anticipated by the police, he also made a few provoking statements on ‘Ayodhya Ram Mandir and Babri Masjid’, which caught the attention of several youngsters, who were seen dancing to the high-decibel tunes flowing out of the DJ console.
Hyderabad police commissioner Anjani Kumar along with officials of different civic department personally monitored the shobha yatra.
Tight security
Speaking to The Hindu, Mr Kumar said over 60,000 people took part in the procession which culminated at Hanuman Vyavayshala School in Sultan Bazaar. “No untoward incident was reported during the procession and it went off peacefully,” he said.
Though the entire procession route had permanently fixed CCTV cameras, including several community cameras, the police had installed additional cameras and vehicle-mounted cameras for better surveillance, he said.
Over 4,500 police personnel, including several teams of newly inducted city Rapid Action Force and SHE Teams, monitored the rally throughout.
The entire procession, including the speeches made by several people, was video-taped for the sake of maintaining record, a police officer said.