Hyderabad: Sri Akkanna-Madanna Mahankali Mandiram president G. Niranjan and Aliuddin Arif, Mujawer Alawa Bi Bi of ‘Moharrum’ procession today addressed mediapersons at the Mandiram prayer hall at Haribowli, Shalibanda in connection with the High Court orders on dispensing with use of Elephant ‘Rajani’ from Nehru Zoological Park for any procession, including ‘Bonalu’ and ‘Moharrum’ processions.
Niranjan released the letter addressed to Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao requesting him to preserve and maintain the culture and customs of the Telangana people. He pointed out that it was age-old practice of using Elephant in the ‘Bonalu’ procession of “Ujjaini Mahankali’ temple of Secunderabad, Sri Akkanna Madanna Mahankali Mandirm, Haribowli, Shalibanda and ‘Nallapochamma’ temple of Sabzimadi.
Similarly, the’Bi Bi Ka Alam’ will be taken out on an Elephant in ‘Moharam’ procession for the centuries. The present Elephant ‘Rajani’ was purchased by the Nizam Trust and kept for maintenance in Nehru Zoological Park which was being used for these precessions all these years and it is an example of Ganga Jemini Tehajeeb.
Recently the High Court issued orders on March 18, 2019 in a case for not using this Elephant for processions based upon the counter affidavit file by the Chief Conservator of Forest. This order affects the faith and religious sentiments of the people and obstructs the maintence of customs and practices.
In the light of the High Court order the chief conservator of the Forest had written a letter to the Special Chief Secretary to the Government, Environment & Forest on April 17, 2019 and requested the government to advise the organizers of the ‘Bonalu’ and ‘Moharrum’ processions to hire Elephants fro neighboring states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and they will provide no objection certificate (NOC) to organizers. The Chief Conservator of Forests in their affidavit suppressed several facts which resulted in the High Court decision.
They appealed to the Chief Minister to convene a meeting of the ‘Bonalu’ and ‘Moharrum’ organizations along with concerned officials to sort out the issue to avoid tensions among the people. (NSS)
