No provocative songs for immersion

Vadodara: Wary about communal tension during Ganesh immersions scheduled on Friday, the city police have banned DJs from playing certain Bollywood songs, which could potentially rile people and lead to clashes.
In fact, one policeman will accompany every procession that passes through the communally sensitive areas to ensure that the DJs adhere to the ‘banned songs’ list.
Police have given permission to nearly 1,600 pandal organizers to carry out the processions. Of these, a few hundred pass through the sensitive areas.
Ganesh festivities have been marred with communal violence in Vadodara several times in the past and cops don’t want to take any chances. “We have chalked out a list of songs that may create disturbance and lead to trouble in the communally sensitive areas. The DJs have been asked to not play certain songs during the immersion procession and organizers have been given the list of these songs,” said Shamsher Singh, city police commissioner.
“A cop or home guard will accompany the Ganesh processions in the communally sensitive areas to ensure that the DJ doesn’t play such songs. Strict action will be taken against anyone flouting the rule,” Singh told TOI.
On the day of immersion, hundreds of processions pass through the old city in some sensitive zones like Yakutpura, Fatehpura, Macchipith and Dudhwalo Mohalla.
A large force of cops and paramilitary force is deployed in these areas to thwart any trouble. A police official said that it has been noticed in the past that riots were sparked due to certain songs that are played loudly.
“If any mischief monger passes provocative comments while playing the song to create trouble, it may lead to communal tension. So, we have asked the DJs to be cautious,” the official said.
Lalsinh alias DJ Kano, said, “We have been asked to not play songs with ‘objectionable’ lyrics while passing through certain sensitive areas. We will follow this directive as we also don’t want any trouble to sour the festivities. The organizers have been apprised of the list too.”
Another DJ Vivek Verma alias Vicky said, “It’s a fact that certain songs or lyrics lead to tension and even a minor argument can lead to clashes. As per police instructions, many DJs have taken these songs off the list.”