Dattamala Abhiyana concludes withShobha Yatre' amidst tight security

Chikkamagaluru, Nov 21: The Dattamala Abhiyana, conducted by Sri Rama Sene, concluded on Sunday, with devotees participating in a procession in the town and visiting Guru Dattatreya Bababudan Swamy Dargah atop Bababudan Hills. The Sene has been conducting Dattamala Abhiyana for the past 12 years.

Sene workers and Datta devotees, who had reached Chikkamagaluru from different places, took out Shobha Yatre, a procession, from Kamadhenu Anjaneya Temple to Bolurameshwara Temple. More than 70 sadhus from North India participated in the procession. The devotees carried saffron flags during the procession. It was the first time that so many sadhus had taken part in the procession.

From Bolurameshwara Temple, the devotees travelled to the shrine in private vehicles. They had the darshan of Datta Padukas in the shrine. The Sene leaders held religious programmes at a venue close to the shrine.

Pramod Mutalik, founder of Sri Rama Sene, speaking to presspersons, said that the participation of sadhus from North India this year had strengthened the morale of Sri Rama Sene. “We will continue our fight to ensure the shrine is declared a place of Hindus. The State government should appoint a Hindu priest to the cave temple and also shift the tombs in the premises,” he said.

Mr. Mutalik and other leaders of the Sene, during the visit to the shrine, demanded that they be allowed to conduct puja in the cave temple. As the representatives of the district administration did not permit them to do so, they staged a dharna. A few sadhus supported the protest.

The Chikkamagaluru district administration had deployed police in the town and at the shrine to avoid any untoward incident from taking place on the day. More than 1,700 policemen were part of the security arrangements.