India celebrates Holi with splash, sweets and smile

New Delhi (PTI): Holi festivities swept across India on Wednesday with a splash of colours, foot-tapping music and traditional celebrations as people exchanged sweets to mark the victory of good over evil with a smile.

From temple rituals at Mathura-Virndavan, the vibrant ‘Dhulandi’ celebrations in Rajasthan, to AAP’s 'Kattar Imandar Holi' in the national capital, cities and villages were drenched in colours as devotees and locals celebrated Holi with a bright display of festive spirit.

Extending Holi greetings to the people, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the festival infuses the atmosphere with new energy.

“Heartiest greetings to all fellow citizens on the occasion of Holi. May this festival, filled with colours and zeal, bring a spring of happiness for everyone," Modi said in a message in Hindi.

"The festival of Holi infuses the entire atmosphere with new energy. This is the greatest specialty of this celebration. The way the colours of happiness are seen scattered everywhere, it leaves everyone drenched in exuberance and joy," he said.

The temple town of Mathura in Uttar Pradesh soaked in the festivities as devotees and locals celebrated Holi with traditional fervour.

Holi was played with full gusto outside the Bankey Bihari temple, but not inside the sanctum sanctorum.

The Bachchgaon village in the district celebrated 'Chappal Holi', where elders in the family playfully hit the younger ones with slippers, following a 150-year-old tradition that started with opposing the atrocities of the Britishers.

A similar tradition was followed in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur, where the 'Lat Sahab' procession was taken out, with revellers chanting slogans and symbolically striking the 'Lat Sahab' with shoes.

The annual procession marks a centuries-old Holi tradition where a man representing a colonial-era 'Lat Sahab' – a figure of authority – is paraded through the town on a bullock cart, while revellers chant slogans and strike him with shoes in a symbolic act of mischief.

In Delhi, AAP leaders, including former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, celebrated what they called 'Kattar Imandar Holi' at Manish Sisodia's residence.

“Today, the colours of 'kattar imandaar' (staunch honest) will fly in the air, not the colours of corruption. This Holi is very special for AAP," Sisodia said, days after a Delhi court gave a clean chit to him, Kejriwal, and 21 others in the excise policy case.

At the Congress office on 24, Akbar Road, Rahul Gandhi celebrated Holi with party workers, applying colours on everyone before being smeared with 'gulal' in return.

In a post on X, Gandhi said, “Heartiest greetings to all of you on the festival of colours and love, Holi. May the colours of Holi fill your lives with new hopes, new enthusiasm and countless happiness."

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, “On this joyous occasion that bridges distances, I wish you all a very Happy Holi. May your life always be filled with the colors of happiness.”

Jammu celebrated Holi with gaiety, with Army and paramilitary forces joining the festivities along the Indo-Pak border.

The main celebrations were held across Jammu city, where people of different communities exchanged greetings and shared festive delicacies in a spirit of harmony.

Army and BSF troops deployed along the LoC and International Border celebrated Holi with the border residents and NGOs.

‘Dhulandi’, often referred to as the main day of Holi or ‘Rangwali Holi’, was celebrated across Rajasthan, a day after partial observance in some areas due to a lunar eclipse.

In Jaipur, a Holi Milan ceremony was organised at the chief minister's residence, where Bhajanlal Sharma played Holi with domestic and foreign tourists, and members of former royal families.

In Ajmer's Pushkar, a large number of tourists, including foreigners, attended the International Holi Festival at the fairground.

In Punjab, Haryana and their common capital, Chandigarh, people celebrated Holi with traditional zeal, smearing 'gulal' on each other, and exchanging sweets to mark the occasion.

A huge rush of devotees flocked to Anandpur Sahib in Punjab for the ‘Holla Mohalla’ festival of the Sikh community, offering prayers at the Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib.

In West Bengal, people continued the festivities on Wednesday, a day after ‘Doljatra’.

Bonhomie and camaraderie marked the occasion, as revellers danced to popular songs while children splashed passers-by with colours, cutting across religious and linguistic divides.

The revelry was particularly lively in Kolkata’s Burrabazar, Chitpur, Bhawanipur, Lake Town and Kashipur, which house a sizable north Indian population.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee posted on X: "HAPPY HOLI! May this vibrant festival fill every home with joy and colour."

The festival of colours was celebrated with much enthusiasm in Telangana and Odisha, while traditional fervour marked Holi in Jharkhand, with revellers smearing one another with ‘gulal’, and dancing to the tunes of traditional Holi songs.

In Hyderabad, children and youth revelled in Holi celebrations at apartments and residential complexes, with north Indian communities organising 'Holika Dahan' to ring in the festival.

In Puri, special arrangements were made for foreign tourists participating in Holi festivities, while hoteliers and lifeguards were asked to keep a close watch on tourists to prevent drowning incidents at Puri beach.