Mosques en route Ganesh procession covered in cloth

Hyderabad: To avert any possibility of untoward incident in the parts of Old City, the police officials draped the structures like mosques, dargahs and chilla on the routes of Ganesh procession. The mosques in areas like Santosh Nagar, Chandrayangutta, Falaknuma, Shahalibanda, Afzal Gunj, Begum Bazar, Nampally and some other areas, the mosques and dargahs can be seen draped in massive cloth.

It has been a practice adopted by the law enforcement authorities to ensure trouble does not come from any quarter to spoil the festive mood of Ganesh immersion, while making sure that other religious structures of Muslims are safe from being accidentally smeared with colours. While the five-time prayers continue as normal at these mosques, but one can see a visible change from a distance, as the entire structure is draped in white clothing.

Historically, devout Muslims who generally wear white clothes on their way to prayer avoid any possibility of being smeared with colours and also hope that the place of worship like mosque remains aloof from colours. Each time some kind of festivity approaches, the mosques on the procession route are generally covered in similar fashion with the close coordination of police and the mosque committees. This not only averts the possibility of lurking trouble, but also helps the devout Hindus celebrate the festivities freely.