‘A Hindu Event organized by Hindus Totally Disrupted by Hindu Activists’- Organizers of ‘Rang Da Barsa-2023-, season 6, a Holi Festival in Mangaluru held on Sunday, 26 March 2023.
Mangaluru: Recalling the incident where Hindu activists of Bajrang Dal had barged into a venue where ‘Rang Da Barsa-2023-, season 6, a Holi festival was held at Soorya Woods, Maroli in City, on Sunday, 26 March, and Mangaluru city police had taken six persons into custody after they allegedly trying to create a nuisance and disrupt that Holi party. However, the police intervened and brought the situation under control. A non-cognizable case has been brought to court. The accused Bajrang Dal persons arrested were Ganesh Attavar, Jai Prasanth, Balchander, Akshay, Chirag, and Mithun.
The activists damaged several banners put up during the event. They reportedly argued with the organisers saying youths behaved indecently, even though the organisers maintained that they had obtained permission for hosting the Holi festival at the venue. The activists objected to use the of loudspeakers and the kind of attire worn by the participants. Related to this attack by the saffron activists, the organizers held a press meet at Mangaluru Press Club to clarify the rumours that have been spread on social media, print and electronic media.
Addressing the media persons, speaking on behalf of the organizer, Jeevan Gatty said, “This is the sixth season of Rang Da Barsa that has been organized in Mangaluru, and we had never faced any problems in the past. And this year too we got all the police permission to host the event in an open ground at Soorya Woods in Maroli, Mangaluru. This is a Holi Hindu event, organized by Hindus in an educational hub, where we have students from all over the Country and also abroad, who always look for fun and frolic during festivals like Holi, and Diwali, among others”.
“We had no other intention in organizing this event than to provide some fun and entertainment to the young and old crowd. Even though we had planned to have this event last month, due to the treacherous hot atmosphere and weather alerts by the meteorological department, we postponed having it on 26 March. Lots of planning and arrangements were put into this event in order to entertain the fun-loving people, and this was a good platform to showcase it. Apart from DJ music, there were food stalls etc also giving them an opportunity to earn a few bucks for their living”, added Jeevan.
Jeevan further said, “All those who had booked the tickets online and on the show date, their complete identity was registered which was part of our event plans. We also had taken full responsibility for and safety of the partygoers, and we made all the security and police arrangements. Having done all that, we were taken by surprise when a few saffron activists, supposed to be members of Bajrang Dal barged into the venus around 1 pm or so, well before the show timing of 2.30 pm onwards. What was the reason for them to disrupt our event, by ransacking the stage, and sound system, tearing down the banners, posters etc? We are still waiting for the right answers”.
“Is there anyone who could have prohibited such a nuisance from taking place? Don’t we have any freedom or rights to organize a decent and law-abiding programme? Due to this incident, the image of the organizers has been spoiled, especially the main man, Arjun Sudhir, who is into the textile business. Who’s responsible for this attack and stopping an event? Who will compensate for the heavy losses, nearly Rs 5 to six lakhs, we have faced, even though the police have arrested six persons who created the ruckus? The police commissioner has assured us of severe action and punishment based on a non-cognizable case against them”, added Jeevan.
While concluding Jeevan said, “The purpose of having this press meet is to request people and also a few media not to spread false rumours on social media, print and electronic thereby hurting us. The video that has been getting circulated portrays a bad image of the organizers, which is far from the truth. We too have videos which clearly show the truth behind the attack. Even though we are happy that the six nuisance makers are in police custody, we never expected such a thing to happen, since the event was organized with good intentions and not to harm any religion, culture or tradition. We humbly request people including a part of the media not to propagate false news, instead of the right facts about the incident. This is not the first event, we have organized five similar shows in the past, and unfortunately this time we had to face such a bad experience”.
Main Organizer Arjun Sudhir, his dad Vinod Sudhir and one of their associates Charan were present during the press meet.
These troublemakers should be booked by NIA and severely punished!