Did police stop you from celebrating Holi anywhere or interfere with your festivities, asked Hyderabad Police Commissioner C.V. Anand to hate mongers.
A routine notification issued by the Police Commissioner in connection with Holi celebrations had kicked up a huge row with BJP with right-wing groups calling it ‘anti-Hindu’.
“I want to ask all those hatemongers, who posted so many things against ‘police restrictions’, Did police stop you from celebrating Holi anywhere or interfere with your festivities? Police never does that, it only takes precautions and facilitates so that everyone enjoys their festivals in an orderly manner,” Anand posted on X on Saturday, a day after Holi.
“What about Ganesh, Milad, Dassehra, Diwali, Eid, Moharram, Sri Rama Navami/Hanuman-Shivaji Jayanthi and the two-month long Bonalu? Did HCP ever interfere? Have they not worked hard to ensure that they are conducted peacefully? Do we not take action against those trying to create trouble? Without those notifications we cannot exercise those powers under city police act,” said the Police Commissioner.
The IPS officer mentioned that all other police forces of the country, including the UP police, issue these notifications in advance to manage public order. He attached a few such notifications issued by the Uttar Pradesh police. “We understand with what intention such statements are made by certain groups and ignore them because we have a job to do,” he added.