Cordial behaviour of UP Police with devotees during Pranapratishtha ceremony at Ayodhya

The Police department plays an important role in the security of big events. At some point we would have experienced the rude behaviour of the Police towards devotees – the use of abusive language, physically assaulting devotees, beating them, etc. An exception now was the historic Shriramlalla’s Pranapratishtha ceremony in Ayodhya on 22^nd January 2024. From the very beginning, the Uttar Pradesh Police were very well-behaved with the devotees. I could not believe this change in their behaviour and was pleasantly surprised.

1. Facing challenges to carry out the security arrangements for the ceremony

Any Hindu celebration usually faces some or the other threat from religious fanatics. This being the grand ceremony of the Shriram Temple in Ayodhya, it faced the biggest threat from Jihadi terrorists. Just a few days before the Pranapratishtha, three people were arrested in Ayodhya for conspiring to attack the venue. Considering the huge crowd of devotees coming from all over the world, all kinds of security systems at the State and Centre levels were put in place.

They faced a huge challenge in trying to pull off this historic ceremony without any problems.

2. Performing their duty with patience and composure

The devotees coming to Ayodhya were diverse. They cooperated with the Police, but there were definitely some exceptions. Some devotees were seen arguing with the Police or talking in a rude and dominating manner. However, the Police still maintained their composure and handled them very patiently. Even in such a crowded atmosphere, they tried to explain and resolve doubts to the best of their abilities.

This resilience of the Police was truly incredible. Whatever be the requests from the devotees or the number of attempts to call up influential political contacts, no amount of aggression made the Police budge. They strictly followed their orders of not allowing anyone inside the Temple premises.

3. Efforts to maintain a light-hearted atmosphere in such a stressful situation

The security arrangements were handled in a very different but efficient manner. Usually, the Police deal strongly with argumentative devotees, as managing a huge crowd adds to the pressure and makes the atmosphere very tense. Similar tension prevailed in almost every part of the Temple premises. The Policemen were however, trying to keep the atmosphere light-hearted by engaging the crowd in an amusing manner. They were taking great care not to add to the troubles of the devotees. This greatly helped in reducing the frustration of the devotees and they willingly cooperated and warmed up to the Police.

It was a pleasant surprise to see the Police with their good sense of humour befitting the situation. There were some rare cases of tension between the Police and the devotees due to some disagreements, but this was due to a lack of patience on the part of the devotees. However, not a single incident has been report so far where the situation went out of control. This is probably the only event of this massive scale that went smoothly without any untoward incident.

4. The ‘UP model’ of security should be implemented across the country

After looking at the security system in Ayodhya, the question arises about why the Police in other parts of the country do not follow such systems. If this is followed everywhere, the stress on the Police would also be eliminated. In addition, the understanding that ‘the Police are neither a friend nor an enemy’ will no longer remain. UP’s model of security has proved itself to be competent and should be implemented all over the country.

The Police ensured that no untoward incidents took place nor did they allow any scope for questions to arise. They conducted the entire ceremony admirably, setting a stellar example for others to follow, and have definitely made their State proud.

– Mr Nilesh Kulkarni, Special Correspondent of Daily Sanatan Prabhat.