Police using a drone to keep a watch on a Muharram procession in Trilokpuri in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Press Trust of India)
The Muharram processions in Outer Delhi's Bawana area and east Delhi's Trilokpuri passed off peacefully today amid heavy police deployment. While Trilokpuri had witnessed violent clashes after Diwali, Bawana was tense after a 'Mahapanchayat' on Sunday.
The processions, however, remained confined to the boundaries of the J J Colony in Bawana, breaking a decades-old tradition when they used to start from the J J cluster and circle the Bawana township, before returning to the point from where it started.
As many as 12 different processions were carried out from afternoon to 8 pm.
A group of JNU students belonging to AISA (All India Students' Association) also reached the area and tried to stage a protest against the "Mahapanchayat' but were asked by the police to leave.
Many locals blamed "outsiders" for the tension in the area while maintaining that the Taziya procession had actually been a symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity.
"The procession had been going on here for decades and the Taziyas were even revered by the Hindus. Some outsiders at this Sunday's gathering spoilt the social fabric of the locality," said Ravindra Rai, a local shopkeeper.
Trilokpuri set an example of communal harmony as Hindu volunteers came out to lead Muharram processions. The six processions in the area, however, passed only through 'safe' routes identified by the police amidst heavy ground-to-air security along the way with drones also being employed to carry out an aerial survey.
"We had a meeting with the organisers and had chosen the relatively safe routes. We had deep deployment; a large number of men were stationed on roofs. The whole area was scanned by drones to see that nobody has stored bottles or stones on the roofs and we had also covered the lanes and bylanes which were opening on to the routes of the processions," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Ajay Kumar.
The processions this time remained restrained as the participants in it did not carry any weapons.