By IANS
Bangalore : A festive mood gripped India’s IT capital Wednesday as thousands of people including women and children attired in colourful clothes thronged celebrations for India’s Independence Day.
All across Karnataka, the national anthem, the national song and other patriotic songs rent the air and the tricolour was unfurled. No untoward incident was reported except in Mysore where police nabbed a youth when he rushed into the parade ground with a knife, a police official told IANS.
The main function took place at the Field Marshal Manekshaw parade grounds here. At the stroke of nine, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy hoisted the national flag from a decorated rostrum on a bright sunny day with a cool breeze wafting across the venue.
Standing in an open jeep, Kumaraswamy inspected the guard of honour and took the salute from each of the 12 contingents of state and central forces, as he drove around the grounds, waving and cheering the 10,000-strong crowd in the final lap.
Participating in the second I-Day function during his 19-month tenure, Kumaraswamy paid rich tributes to the countless martyrs of the freedom struggle and recalled the contributions made by a galaxy of national leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel.
The three-hour long event began with a colourful march past by the security forces.
Accompanied by police and military musical bands, hundreds of boys and girls from the National Cadet Corps (NCC) and Bharat Scouts and Guides and city schools also marched past, drawing admiration from the dignitaries in the VIP enclosure and rounds of applause from the boisterous crowd.
The gathering was treated to scores of patriotic songs, folk dances and street plays by about 2,000 children from government schools in the rural and urban districts of Bangalore.
A daredevil display of adventurous feats by the “Thunderbolts” of the military police on motorbikes in several formations was the climax of the grand event in the city.
Celebrations were held with equal patriotic fervour and gaiety in other parts of the state, with the tricolour unfurled by district-in charge ministers or deputy commissioners in the presence of police and other officials and cheering crowds.