BJP women wing celebrates Bathukamma at Golkonda Fort

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) women's wing of Telangana celebrated the cultural festival of Bathukamma at the historic Golkonda Fort here on Tuesday.

"During the festival we worship the God of flowers and the Mahil morcha is celebrating it at the historical place of Golkonda," women wing vice-president Chaya Devi told ANI.

"Today the festival is not just limited to Telangana but everywhere in the world where Telugu people are present be it London be it Dubai and we hope one day it becomes our national festival."

Bathukamma festival is a symbol of Telangana cultural identity and celebrated during the later half of monsoon and before the onset of winters.

The festival celebrates the inherent relationship between earth, water and the human beings. It is a nine-day long festival and during the entire preceding week, women make 'Boddemma' (a deity of Gowri - mother Durga - made with earthly mud) along with 'Bathukamma' (flower stack, arranged with different unique seasonal flowers most of them with medicinal values) and immerse it in a pond.

It is believed that it helps reinforce ponds and retain more water.

The flowers used in Bathukamma have a great quality of purifying water and such flowers when immersed in abundance in a pond, it have the effect of cleansing water and making the environment much better.

The festival heralds the beauty of nature, collective spirit of Telangana people and also the scientific approach of the agrarian people towards preserving the resources of nature in a celebrative way.