BENGALURU: Prior to the Annamma Devi procession that took place on Saturday, Harish Pandey, Bengaluru South Deputy Commissioner of Police, said the procession has been conducted successfully for 35 years.
A letter written by Gulab Pasha, a social activist from Swaraj India, had gone viral, after he requested that the route of the procession be changed. “We heard that the procession is proposed to pass through Fayazabad and Kanaka Nagar, inhabited mostly by Muslim communities when it goes from Manju Layout to Shani Mahatma Temple,” he said in the letter.
Citing recent communal tensions as well as Ramzan evening prayers, he asked for the change in the route. He also alleged that the procession was being organised for the first time.
Refuting this, Pandey said the procession has taken place for the last 35 years, with a brief break the last two years due to Covid-19.
“Members from both communities have also taken part in the procession regularly. The letter was sent by someone who had recently moved into the area and has a known history of making provocative statements, even recently with the CAA agitations,” the DCP said.