03-08-2006, 05:37 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->During two similar strikes last year, one of which claimed seven lives at Dasashwamedh Ghat, the people of Varanasai had dismissed them as accidents and moved on unfazed. But not this time round.
<b>
No wonder Varanasi's residents, especially the Hindus, responded overwhelmingly to the bandh called given by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the BJP to protest the Tuesday's terror attacks, including the bombing of a shrine that lies at the core of their faith - the Sankat Mochan temple.</b>
<b>Shops and business establishments remained completely closed in the entire temple town.</b> People could be seen huddled in groups and the one emotion that underlined their feelings was anger. Sensing the undercurrent of shock and rage, shopkeepers in areas like Sonarpura and Madanpura, which are Muslim-dominated, preferred to down shutters.
In a show of collective defiance, <b>thousands of people congregated at Sankat Mochan Temple at 3 pm on Wednesday, a time when the shrine on other days is closed for darshan. Men and women of all age streamed into the temple to pay obeisance to the presiding deity, Bajrang Bali.</b>
Later, they offered a silent prayer for the departed souls of those who died in Tuesday's bombing by spending a few moments at the spot where the blast occurred.
<b>Many of them vociferously criticised Islamist fundamentalists and denounced Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav for being their "messiah". </b>The swarming crews of television news channels provided them with the opportunity to vent their pent-up anger. <b>As cameras focussed on them, they lustily raised anti-Mulayam Singh Yadav and anti-Islamist slogans</b>.
Meanwhile, at Varanasi Cantonment Railway Station, crowds gathered outside the waiting hall where a bomb had killed more than 12 people on Tuesday evening, as a team of Intelligence Bureau experts from Delhi searched for forensic evidence inside.
...........................
As evening descended and dusk settled in, people converged at Dasashwamedh Ghat for the ritual evening aarti. The floating diyas on the lapping waters of Ganga reflected their pain, their agony, their anger - and their faith.
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<b>
No wonder Varanasi's residents, especially the Hindus, responded overwhelmingly to the bandh called given by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the BJP to protest the Tuesday's terror attacks, including the bombing of a shrine that lies at the core of their faith - the Sankat Mochan temple.</b>
<b>Shops and business establishments remained completely closed in the entire temple town.</b> People could be seen huddled in groups and the one emotion that underlined their feelings was anger. Sensing the undercurrent of shock and rage, shopkeepers in areas like Sonarpura and Madanpura, which are Muslim-dominated, preferred to down shutters.
In a show of collective defiance, <b>thousands of people congregated at Sankat Mochan Temple at 3 pm on Wednesday, a time when the shrine on other days is closed for darshan. Men and women of all age streamed into the temple to pay obeisance to the presiding deity, Bajrang Bali.</b>
Later, they offered a silent prayer for the departed souls of those who died in Tuesday's bombing by spending a few moments at the spot where the blast occurred.
<b>Many of them vociferously criticised Islamist fundamentalists and denounced Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav for being their "messiah". </b>The swarming crews of television news channels provided them with the opportunity to vent their pent-up anger. <b>As cameras focussed on them, they lustily raised anti-Mulayam Singh Yadav and anti-Islamist slogans</b>.
Meanwhile, at Varanasi Cantonment Railway Station, crowds gathered outside the waiting hall where a bomb had killed more than 12 people on Tuesday evening, as a team of Intelligence Bureau experts from Delhi searched for forensic evidence inside.
...........................
As evening descended and dusk settled in, people converged at Dasashwamedh Ghat for the ritual evening aarti. The floating diyas on the lapping waters of Ganga reflected their pain, their agony, their anger - and their faith.
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