Organisers demand stringent action against activists who disrupted Holi event

Organisers of “Ranga Da Barsa” a Holi event which was allegedly disrupted by members of a pro-Hindu organisation on March 26, demanded stringent action against those who were part of damaging the stage and other settings arranged for the event.

Charan, brother of one of the organisers Arjun said, “Stringent action should ensure that such incidents do not recur in the future. We had invested in organising the event. Is there no value for our investment? The programme was organised with permission from the police. We were not engaged in any illegal activities. Don't we have the freedom to host such events?” he asked.

“Those who disrupted the event have been arrested by the police and are in custody. It was an event organised for the students and families. It was only through invitation and none were forcefully asked to attend the programme. The event was publicised for more than a month and we had been making arrangements for the event well in advance. However, unknown miscreants barged into the event site and damaged the settings of the stage arranged for the purpose and abused us using foul language. Moreover, the event had not yet started when the incident occurred and even our family members were also taking part in the event.”

"The miscreants had raised objections to the hosting of Holi, which is celebrated in North India and wanted us to celebrate it with our families and not by gathering people. We are not aware of their motive behind disrupting the event. Now, rumours are being spread against the organisers with the intention to defame them on social media. There is an attempt to spoil the image of the organisers who are also professionals which in turn will affect their image,” said organiser Arjun.

“The event also aimed at helping the locals to earn money by way of setting the stage, arranging the DJ, setting up food counters. The organisers wanted to hand over the money saved from organising the event to an orphanage as they did in the last five years,” said Charan.

In the complaint to the police, the organiser said that they had availed permission for hosting the event from 10 am to 7 pm. The programme was scheduled at 2 pm. However, accused Balachandra, Ganesh, Jayaprashanth, Akshay, Mithun Raj, and Chirag barged into the place and damaged flex, backdrop structure, and electronic items and the loss is estimated to be around Rs 2 lakh to Rs 3 lakh. They also abused the participants with foul language and also issued life threats to one of the organiser’s friend Jeevan,” said the complaint.

The police have already arrested six persons in connection with the case on the day of the incident.