Holi, celebrated across India, amid tight security

Image: Border Security Force soldiers celebrate Holi
Photographs: Reuters/Stringer

Holi, the festival of colours, was celebrated acroos the country and the world, with great enthusiasm and fervour

In Punjab's Amritsar district, Border Security Force jawans celebrated Holi at the Attari international border and applied 'gulal' (color) on each other's faces.

The festival, which brings in the bright days of summer, was celebrated with equal zeal and excitement across India.

Sonia Gandhi played holi with kids

Image: People smear the face of a woman with coloured powder during Holi in Allahabad
Photographs: Jitendra Prakash/Reuters

United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi joined a group of school children to celebrate Holi. Gandhi put 'gulal' on the forehead of the children and distributed sweets to them.

Senior party leaders including All India Congress Committee treasurer Motilal Vora, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Union minister Mukul Wasnik, senior leader R K Dhawan and a number of Congress Working Committee members and AICC general secretaries visited Gandhi on the occasion.

Foreign diplomats played Holi too

Image: Newly elected leader of the opposition party United National Congress, Kamla Persad Bissesar, is covered with a colours in Trinidad and Tobago
Photographs: Andrea De Silva/Reuters

Several politicians and diplomats gathered at Lodi Gardens in New Delhi to play with colours on the occasion.

Celebrations began in the capital since Sunday evening with lighting up of bonfires, known as 'Holika Dahan'. People set ablaze effigies of Holika, the sister of demon King Hiranyakashyap, at several places.

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