NEW DELHI, 30 March — Holi may be a festival of colors but gloom marked the day yesterday in the capital city of Delhi. Thoughts about the riots in Gujarat and anxieties about what would happen next in that state and high security across the country to halt any violence during the annual religious event took from the day much of its color and gaiety.
Though Holi is a public holiday national leaders, officials and Indian embassies abroad decided to shun the festivities after the riots that left more than 700 dead and thousands homeless in the western state of Gujarat since last month.
President K.R. Narayanan, who said he will not accept visitors during Holi, expressed his “anguish” over the rioting, the deadliest in a decade in Hindu-majority India.
“At this moment when communal disturbances are taking place in parts of our country it is important that we summon our traditional spirit of tolerance in order to establish peace and harmony among our people,” Narayanan said in a message on Holi’s eve. Millions of Hindus dab color on each other during the event but the festivities often turn rowdy with people attacked on the streets by spirited revelers marking Holi, which heralds the end of winter in India.
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee also said he would not join the festivities because of the Gujarat riots and appealed for restraint during the day.
“I urge the people to join me in praying for peace, harmony and brotherhood,” a statement issued from Vajpayee’s office said. Jana Krishnamurthy, president of Vajpayee’s ruling Hindu nationalist BJP party, ordered his provincial chiefs to ask supporters to stay away from the festivities and instead organize programs aimed at promoting communal harmony.
India’s main opposition leader Sonia Gandhi, Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani and a host of other national leaders distanced themselves from the traditional festival and called for an end to the violence in the western state.
