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Dussehra celebrated across the country

— Photo: R. V. Moorthy

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh participating in the Ramlila watched by UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Union Minister Kapil Sibal, at Subhash Maidan in New Delhi on Sunday.

New Delhi: Giant effigies of demon king Ravana, his son Meghnath and brother Kumbhkaran blazed and crackled in fiery splendour as Dussehra, symbolising the triumph of good over evil, was celebrated across the country on Sunday.

At dusk, the effigies stuffed with firecrackers went up in flames commemorating the victory of Lord Rama, the Prince of Ayodhya, over Ravana who had abducted Rama’s wife Sita.

Attired in their festive best, thousands witnessed the spectacular fireworks at different venues after the towering effigies came crashing on the ground.

With the police keeping a hawk-eye vigil in the wake of recent terror strikes in the country, the celebrations passed off peacefully with no reports of any untoward incident from anywhere.

In the national capital, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and several other leaders saw enactment of the penultimate episode of the Ramayana.

After two decades, the people in insurgency-hit areas in Kashmir celebrated Dussehra with enthusiasm. In Punjab, celebrations were subdued in areas dominated by migrants from Bihar and U.P.

This followed last Sunday’s blast in a cinema hall in industrial town Ludhiana that left six dead and over 30 wounded, mostly labourers. — PTI

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