'Raising of rath height plays havoc in festivals'

By Our Staff Correspondent

DALTONGANJ, APRIL 14. Is yesterday's tragedy that halted mid-way the Ram Navami celebrations the fallout of the Ayodhya controversy?

At least this is the impression that quite a few people carried here. And the understanding of senior officials appeared to be no different. The demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992 had stoked religious fervour among the Hindus and the Muslims in equal measure, which reflects particularly during Ram Navami celebrations and the observance of Muharram.

The reason for that is that the two festivals come close on the heels of each other and no less because they involve mass participation in their celebration or observance. In the case of Ram Navami celebrations `raths' and `jhandhas' hold the attraction, while Tazias are taken out during Muharram.

In most of the districts of Chotanagpur and the adjoining ones - be it Hazaribagh, Dhanbad, Giridih, to name a few - Ram Navami festivities have a special place and the celebrations are spread over two nights. It is a phenomenon cherished by almost the entire township with almost all localities tastefully decorated. Apart from tableaus, the local Akharas display their prowess in martial arts. too.

Prior to 1992, this eight-decade-old tradition encouraged a health competition among the locals within the community. But during the past eight years, people claimed that the competition was more between the two communities, each vying with the other in displaying a better rath or a Tazia.

More than the equality, it is the size that has perceivably become of paramount importance - both in length and height - irrespective of whether such huge raths could actually wind their way through the narrow lanes of the town. There is no gainstaying the fact that the entire community is involved. They contribute liberally and huge shamianas are set up in each locality for constructing their own rath or tazia.

The two communities keep a close eye on the activities of each other in this game of one upmanship. Perhaps that might well explain the cause for the tragedy that left at least 30 people dead. After all it was the height of the rath that they sought to negotiate, in the process, snapping the obsolete high tension wire carrying power to the rural areas.

The failure of the Electricity Department cannot be condoned. None of its personnel accompanied the procession despite express orders and practice. The primary concern of the administration, according to the Divisional Commissioner, Ms. Amita Pal, has, of late, been maintaining law and order to ensure that the processions of the two communities are taken out without any impediment to avoid untoward incidents during the two occasions.

The role of the administration in managing the processions is minimal which is left to the respective committees formed under the supervision of community leaders. The district administration is circumspect about putting a curb on the size of the rath or the tazia saying that it would not be possible for it to lay out any rules in the absence of specific directions from the State Government.

Ms. Pal said that it would be better if the two communities themselves lay out the norms for themselves to avoid interference in religious matters by the administration. The Muslims have decided not to observe Muharram on April 15 and 16 expressing sorrow over the tragedy that befell the Ram Navami celebrations.

The gesture is certainly laudable. But one hopes it would not end there and the elders of the two communities would take the initiative to avert recurrence of such calamity. After all, most of those killed were youths some of whom were not even 12-years- old. The most heartrending sight was the death of a three-year- old girl and her father - the two remained unseparated in death with the girl dying in the arms of her father who had propped her up to help her see the show, which turned into a nightmare mostly because of the irresponsible behaviour of some over-enthusiastic people.

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Section  : Regional
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