Under watchful eyes: Security personnel make a round of Indira Gandhi Park in Bhubaneswar Sunday to prevent any untoward incident as some youngsters
celebrate Valentine’s Day in the capital city. op photo
Bhubaneswar: With Bajrang Dal activists having threatened to make rounds of the parks in the city on Valentine’s Day and force pairs of lovers found there to marry each other, the parks wore a deserted look Sunday.
A sizeable group of bike-borne Bajrang Dal activists entered Jaydev Vatika Sunday and reportedly gave two garlands to a couple they spotted there. The activists reportedly asked the couple to put garlands around each other’s necks and tie the knot at a nearby temple.
The Bajrang Dal activists also thronged a couple of malls in the city. They, however, did not bother married couples they found at the malls. The Bajrang Dal activists had made it clear that the “foreign culture” of professing love in public will not be tolerated in Orissa. Security measures were tightened in the city for Valentine’s Day. Policemen were deployed in parks, shopping malls, cafeterias and outside crowded gift and stationery shops to ward off any disturbance in view of the threats issued by Bajrang Dal.
Bhubaneswar DCP Satyabrata Bhoi said people have the right to protest peacefully and that anyone found using force would face action as per law. PNN
