With Holi falling on Friday during the Islamic holy month of Ramzan and amid remarks by a section of ruling BJP leaders and administrative officials instructing Muslims to stay indoors if they have an issue with getting colours, mosques in various districts of Uttar Pradesh were covered with tarpaulin on Wednesday.
Prominent Muslim clerics in the state have also revised the timings for Friday prayers, which will now be held after 2 pm.
To maintain peace, Director General of Police (DGP) Prashant Kumar has sent a letter to all the district police chiefs, commissionerates, and heads of police zones and ranges with a 20-point directive, instructing them to fortify the sensitive zones in their districts with heavy deployment of police and paramilitary force.
Besides holding direct interactions with top police officers of the state, DGP Prashant Kumar personally met senior officers of sensitive districts and discussed police bandobast for Holi.
In the “hyper-sensitive” Sambhal district, which has been in the news for the past few months over the court-ordered survey of Shahi Jama Masjid, several mosques were covered with tarpaulin sheets on Wednesday.
The district has already been provided with additional paramilitary force for round the clock monitoring, a senior officer said.
President of Sambhal Shahi Jama Masjid, Zafar Ali, announced that Friday prayers on March 14 will be held at 2.30 pm due to Holi celebrations. Ali urged members of both communities to celebrate Holi and offer Friday prayers in a harmonious atmosphere.
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Regarding the administration’s move to cover mosques with tarpaulin, Ali welcomed the decision, stating that it was a positive step.
In Shahjahanpur district, more than 75 mosques and shrines have been covered with tarpaulin or clothes. The district happens to be the only place where there is a tradition of playing ‘Joota Maar Holi’ (playing Holi using shoes/slippers).
A senior officer at the DGP Headquarters, who is a part of the team monitoring security arrangements, told The Indian Express that senior officers would escort the traditional procession of ‘Laat Sahab’.
During ‘Joota Maar Holi’, which has been played since pre-independence years to protest against the then British rulers, people take out a procession of a dummy ‘Laat Sahab’ (British officers used to be called Laat Sahab) with a garland of shoes and slippers around his neck. As the procession moves, people on the way throw shoes and slippers at the dummy Laat Sahab.
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“To avoid any law and order situation arising out of throwing of shoes and slippers, all the mosques and shrines have been covered properly,” the senior officer said.
Barricades have been installed along the procession route and several CCTV cameras have been installed by the local administration. “There are 18 Holi processions in the city, including the two major ‘Laat Saheb’ processions. To ensure security, the larger procession has been divided into three zones and eight sectors, with around 100 magistrates deployed,” Superintendent of Police Rajesh S was quoted by PTI, as saying.
Moreover, police have taken preventive action against 2,423 people to deter potential troublemakers, he said. “The security deployment includes 10 police circle officers, 250 sub-inspectors, around 1,500 police personnel and two companies of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC),” the SP added.
Similarly, in districts like Mathura, Ayodhya, Varanasi, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Moradabad, Rampur, Aligarh, Agra, Kanpur, Gonda, Bahraich and Siddharthnagar, additional paramilitary forces have been deployed.
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DGP Kumar said that officers have been instructed to ensure that no group is allowed to perform any act or hold processions or events that are not traditional.