Meenakshi Temple consecration: overcautious safety measure leaves devotees disappointed

The much-awaited consecration of Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple got over without any untoward incident. But, not without a good section of the devotees criticising the administration and the police for “not facilitating” the masses to witness the ceremony of pour the holy water on the kalasams atop the temple towers and ‘vimanams’.

The police permitted the devotees with passes to climb up the sprawling terrace of the temple with the help of temporary staircases put up inside the temple premises.

The crowd was separated effectively and made to sit down on the floor inside separate enclosures to prevent them from crowding.

With a 6,500-strong posse of policemen drawn from different districts posted around the Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple, the devotees, without passes, expressed disappointment of having kept at much away from the temple towers.

“Is this mega event held only for the VIPs and the influential?” was the question raised by many of the angry devotees.

The police had almost sealed majority of the 22 cross roads and bylanes leading to the Chithirai Streets, abutting the temple towers.

The crowd were told that they would be allowed to enter the Chithirai Street at 10 a.m. to enter the temple for darshan only after those atop the terrace had melted.

Initially, the crowd were calm, but as the day broke and they found that they could not witness the kudamuzhukku ceremony from far off places, they became restless.

The attempt of the police to keep them seated on the road to avoid stampede like situation failed as people started to jump the different enclosures. Some even tried to breach the barricades, in vain. Push and pull were witnessed in many spots.

As soon as the event got over, the people were expecting the holy water being sprayed even on those waiting outside the temple.

But, this disappointment turned into anger as no arrangement had been made for this.

“We all had come from far off places and also in the dead of the night only to witness the event and to have the holy water sprayed on us,” shouted several women.

A police officer blamed the overcautious effort by the district administration and the city police to keep the devotees away from an event being conducted after 17-long years.

The police apprehended that allowing the crowd to occupy the Chithirai Streets would block the way of devotees coming down the terrace and create congestion. Besides, they also feared that operating drone to spray water would lead to devotees jumping from one corner to another chasing the drone for the holy water.

“The Government wanted to prevent any untoward incident. Besides, the officials had over-estimated that several lakhs of people would throng the temple, while it was not the case,” he added.

Only a little over 50,000 people had the darshan inside the temple, while others had to contend with offering prayers when the deities were taken around the Masi Streets on procession later on the day.

However, the city police have heaved a sigh of relief as no untoward incident, including missing of children, had been reported.