CWG security takes shine out of Ramlila celebrations

NEW DELHI - No giant wheel rides, no food stalls. This year’s Ramlila celebrations are set to be a quiet affair thanks to the stringent security arrangements in place for the Commonwealth Games.

Delhi Police have directed several Ramlila committees to do away with the usual melas that accompany the enactment of the Ramayana every evening. This year the Ramlila is clashing with the Oct 3-14 Games. The Ramlila fair is from Oct 8-17.

The restrictions will remain till the end of the Games, Oct 14, which is Saptami day according to the Hindu calendar. The Ramlila committees have been asked to hold low-key small affairs.

Some Ramlila committees have decided to invite the foreign delegates to watch the stage performances.

Pratap Jain, member of the Dharmik Leela Committee at the Lajpat Rai Market, told IANS: “We have been asked by Delhi Police not to organise any mela or fun rides this year as they can become a security issue during the Games. However, we want to invite foreign delegates to watch the performances on the Ramayana and serve them some Old Delhi delicacies. If we get permission from the police for this, it would be nice.”

The committee organizes its Ramlila opposite the Lajpat Rai Market near Red Fort every year.

Some committees like the Lav Kush Ramlila Committee, which hosts programmes every year at the Red Fort grounds, has already sent out formal invites to embassies.

Speaking to IANS, Arjun Kumar, general secretary of the Lav Kush Ramlila Committee, said: “This time the celebrations will be different as the Commonwealth Games and the Ramlila are overlapping. We are gearing up for the festival with special arrangements. We are preparing air-conditioned rooms for the artistes and foreign delegates who are expected to come to watch the Ramlila performances.”

He said the committee has sent 72 invitations to various foreign embassies and also spoken to the ambassadors. According to Kumar, they have got a letter from the Sweden embassy expressing a wish to watch the Ramlila.

“With many visitors from abroad evincing interest to watch the Ramlila, we are setting up comfortable air-conditioned pandals for them,” Kumar said.

The committee will also provide translators to narrate the Ramlila in English to the visitors and explain to them its significance. Also, pamphlets and CDs on the history of the Ramlila will be given to the foreign visitors.

“This time, Delhiites will definitely miss the usual celebrations as the police have asked us to avoid community lunches and melas. The halt to cultural programmes will lead to sponsorship difficulties for the committees. Though initially we opposed the restrictions, we later accepted the demands as the Commonwealth Games is a national event,” said Ram Manohar, an organiser of the Ramlila committee in Lajpat Nagar.

According to a senior police official, the Ramlila celebrations will be a low key affair till Oct 14. No melas and celebrations would be allowed in any part of the city.

“The Ramlila committee organisers can hold the stage show if they are given permission; it is a traditional affair and we cannot ask them to stop it for the sake of Games. But strictly the melas and fairs are not allowed till Oct 15,” he added.

Usually, over 1,000 Ramlila performances are organised in the capital. At least, four of these are organised in Old Delhi. The fairs held alongside are much sought after by the Delhiites as they have food stalls, games and other entertainment for families.

The Durga Puja, which begins Oct 13, will also be conducted on a low profile.

(Prathiba Raju can be contacted at prathiba.r@ians.in)