Students from 30 Ekal Vidyalayas being run in Mangalagiri region under Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh participated in a balmela organised at Sri Sitharama Kovela in Mangalagiri town on April 5. These Ekal Vidyalayas are being run with the inspiration of Vishwa Hindu Parishad. A total of 23 teachers and 300 students from Ekal Vidyalayas from surrounding villages. VHP workers and sympathisers also attended the balmela. The function began at 2.00 pm. At 3.00 pm a procession was taken out in the town in which all the participants went all around the town raising slogans: Remove illiteracy, Save Hindu culture, Vande Mataram, Education with humanity, Be proud of being a Hindu, Live like a sincere Hindu, Build a nation of Vivekananda'sdreams and We want more Ekal Vidyalayas.
After the procession, the students of Ekal Vidyalayas exhibited what they learnt in their schools. They presented many cultural activities, sang devotional songs, poems, patriotic songs, chanted slokas and performed dramas, which were watched by rapt attention by everyone. They were well disciplined under the guidance of well-trained teachers.
The main speaker at Mangalagiri town balmela was Shri Narasimhacharyulu, a Sanskrit scholar who asked the children to follow in the footsteps of Anjaneya Swamy and Swami Vivekananda. ?These two people were ideal workers and gurus,? he said advising the children not to be brainwashed by the western culture, which does not provide peace of mind, rather the students should learn about the great culture of Hinduism, which is eternal.
Shri Kanna Bhaskar, Prant organising secretary of Poorva Andhra VHP, urged the teachers and students of Ekal Vidyalayas to work hard and build a model, peaceful, happy and strong Hindu society. Ekal Prant Yojana Pramukh Shri R. Papaiah Sharma, VHP leaders Shri A. Sathyanarayana, Shri M. Venkateswara Rao and Shri P. Ramakrishna also spoke on the occasion. After the function, every child was presented a copy of the Bhagwadgita.
The second balmela was organised at Shishu Vidya Mandir in Vijayawada on April 6. After a procession was taken out in the city, Shri M. Hanumantha Rao, organisation incharge of Poorva Andhra VHP, Shri P. Ramakanth, Andhra Pradesh Ekal Kshetra Yojna Pramukh, Shri Sudhansu Mohan Patnaik, VHP Bangalore Kshetra Sangthan Prabhari, Shri Walchand Jain, Vijayawada VHP vice president, Shri K. Ramarao, Vijayawada Sanch Samiti Pramukh and Shri PSV Naidu, Vijayawada district president, addressed the participants. They appealed to them to remove illiteracy from the society, as it is the root cause of various problems. They said a strong Hindu society alone could spread peace, prosperity and love in the world.
(FOC)
