CM Rekha attends Navratri prayers, warns against holding Delhi hostage
On a morning meant for ritual and reflection, Delhi’s Chief Minister instead issued a warning: no one, however they dressed up their protest, would be allowed to disrupt the city or damage what belongs to its people.
The Chief Minister visited Jhandewalan Temple on Sunday, the first day of Sharadiya Navratri, where she offered prayers to Maa Bhagwati and performed the prescribed rituals, seeking happiness, peace, prosperity and good health for the people of Delhi and the country.
After extending Navratri greetings, the Chief Minister said the festival of Maa Durga carried a message of faith, devotion, strength, and righteousness, and that the nine forms of the Goddess inspired courage, self-restraint, austerity, compassion, and a commitment to the path of dharma. She expressed hope that Delhi and the nation would continue to progress under the Goddess’s blessings.
But her remarks that followed, addressing what she described as attempts to spread anarchy in the city, carried a sharper political edge. The Chief Minister said she prayed that the Goddess would grant wisdom to those who placed their own interests above the nation’s welfare, and to those troubled by the country’s progress, without naming any individual or group.
She said the people of Delhi had nothing to do with those unwilling to think about the country’s interests or take pride in its progress. She acknowledged that everyone has the right to express their views in a democracy. Still, she drew a clear line: inconveniencing the public, damaging public property, or disrupting the city’s normal functioning in the name of protest was unacceptable.
That line of argument led directly to her central message for the day, aimed squarely at ordinary residents rather than any political rival. The Chief Minister said her Government remained committed to ensuring the safety and convenience of Delhi’s citizens and to keeping the city functioning normally. She said residents would not face unnecessary inconvenience, and that any attempt to hold the city hostage or damage public property would not be tolerated.
She said ensuring the safety and convenience of ordinary citizens, along with maintaining order in the capital, remained her Government’s priority, and it would continue working with full commitment to protect the interests of Delhi’s people.
The Chief Minister’s remarks did not name any specific protest, organisation, or individual, leaving her comments on anarchy and hostage-taking open to interpretation as to which situation prompted them.
