CHENNAI: AMID the political tussle over the Ram Mandir consecration, people organised special bhajans and screenings of the event, all of which passed off without any major untoward incident on Monday.
People gathered in large numbers at Triplicane Parthasarathi temple, West Mambalam Kothanda Ramaswamy temple, ECR Kalyanaperumal temple and Kancheepuram Varadharaja Perumal temple for rituals. Several devotees distributed food at various shrines. In Triplicane, hundreds of women carried lamps around the temple.
S Aishwarya of Triplicane told TNIE, “A lot of people in and around the area have been conducting special bhajans, ‘Akhand Ramayan’, Ram Leela programmes and the likes for the past couple of weeks.”
People also said they were able to carry on with their celebrations as scheduled without any issue.
Arrangements for live telecast of the consecration were also made at railway stations, including Egmore and Central.
V Shenbagavalli, founder of SV Music School in Chrompet, said, “Nearly 30 students sang ‘Dudukugala krithi’, a Pancha Ratna Krithi by saint composer Thyagaraja for the past two days and posted them on social media.” Shenbagavalli is a visually impaired woman who received Shrestha Divyangjan award in December 2022 from President Droupadi Murmu.
Meanwhile, a section of residents in the city registered their protest against the consecration by tweeting hashtags #LandofRavana and #TamilsprideRavana.