The Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated with much fervour across Karnataka on Monday. The festival will go on for 10 days.
Including Bengaluru, coastal region and north and south Karnataka, preparations are made for installations of huge Ganesh idols.
The festival is celebrated with much fervour this year as during previous years the celebrations were marred due to the shadow of the Covid pandemic.
In South Karnataka, people thronged ant-hills early in the morning for worshipping as the Nag Panchami is celebrated along with the Ganesh Chaturthi festival.
In a noble gesture, Muslims have decided to postpone the procession of the Eid-Milad festival in Belagavi city. The Hindu community has decided to celebrate immersion of Ganesh idol on September 28 and the Eid procession was also supposed to be held on September 28.
The Ganesh festival is celebrated for 119 years in Belagavi and the procession is historical. As Muslims also take out the procession during the Eid-Milad, the police department faces it tough to handle the law and order situation.
The religious body the Anjuman-E-Islam and Muslim religious heads have held a meeting and decided to hold the procession of the Eid-Milad on October 1. The Muslim community leaders have stated that they will take part in the Ganesh festival and procession and they will also invite Hindus to the Eid-Milad.
Belagavi North Congress MLA Raju Sait stated that the gesture by the Muslim community will create harmony in the society. Vikasa Kalaghatagi, an organiser from Ganesh Mandali, described the decision of Muslim community as historical. Hindus and Muslims both will celebrate the Ganesh Chaturthi and Eid-Milad festivals, he stated.
Shivamogga city is celebrating the Ganesh festival with much fanfare. One of the largest Ganesh idols is installed in the city and nearly a lakh people congregate for the procession during immersion of the idol. The police have made elaborate security arrangements as skirmishes during the festivities had led to communal clashes in the city.