BENGALURU: The Assembly witnessed noisy scenes on Wednesday with ruling and opposition members blaming each other over restrictions on use of loudspeakers during functions held as part of Ganesha Chaturthi and other festivals. Raising the matter during Zero Hour, BJP’s Vedavyas Kamath alleged that the police harassed people by imposing restrictions on celebration of festivals.
In Dakshina Kannada, people organise Kolas, Yakshaganas and other rituals and celebrate festivals such as Ganesha Chaturthi and Krishna Janmashtami. When functions were held as part of Janmashtami a few days ago, police seized loudspeakers and registered cases against those who provided them to the organisers, he said.
Leader of Opposition R Ashoka said the police had “arrested” a Ganesha idol and took it to their station in Mandya. Karkala MLA V Sunil Kumar said the education department had issued a circular to government schools prohibiting non-academic activities on their premises.
In villages, Ganesha idols are usually kept on the premises of government schools during the festival. Now, block education officers are denying permission to keep Ganesha idols on the premises of government schools stating that it is a non-academic activity. This should be stopped, he added.