NEW DELHI: Home minister Amit Shah on Monday said over 25,000 devotees attended the ‘Kheer Bhawani mela‘ held on the occasion of Jyeshta Ashtami on Sunday at the Kheer Bhawani temple in Ganderbal, Kashmir.
“The mela occupies a sacred place in the spiritual realm of Kashmiri Pandit sisters and brothers. Over 25,000 devotees attended the mela,” Shah said in a tweet while congratulating J&K LG Manoj Sinha, central armed police forces and J&K police and the local administration on the successful completion of the mela.
Last year, around 18,000 Kashmiri Pandits and devotees visited the temple on Jyeshtha Ashtami.
Kheer Bhawani is considered to be the deity of Kashmiri Pandits. This year, devotees arrived at the temple in 107 buses from Jammu.
The Ganderbal district police had made elaborate security arrangements with 20 companies of the CAPF along with the J&K Police, escort vehicles, road opening parties, counter-terror quick reaction teams, and law and order components, while additional naka points were part of the overall deployment plan.
“The mela occupies a sacred place in the spiritual realm of Kashmiri Pandit sisters and brothers. Over 25,000 devotees attended the mela,” Shah said in a tweet while congratulating J&K LG Manoj Sinha, central armed police forces and J&K police and the local administration on the successful completion of the mela.
Last year, around 18,000 Kashmiri Pandits and devotees visited the temple on Jyeshtha Ashtami.
Kheer Bhawani is considered to be the deity of Kashmiri Pandits. This year, devotees arrived at the temple in 107 buses from Jammu.
The Ganderbal district police had made elaborate security arrangements with 20 companies of the CAPF along with the J&K Police, escort vehicles, road opening parties, counter-terror quick reaction teams, and law and order components, while additional naka points were part of the overall deployment plan.