Delhi: VP Naidu, Manmohan attend Dussehra celebrations

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh attended the Dussehra celebrations in iconic Lal Quila maiden here on Tuesday.

The two dignitaries took part in the festivities and witnessed a performance of Ram Lila.

"Dussehra symbolizes the victory of good over evil, of righteousness and virtue over sinfulness. It is a celebration of the universal law that truth alone triumphs in the end", Naidu said while addressing people at the event.

"We can and must destroy the negative forces that impede the progress of our nation. We must strive to annihilate social evils, poverty, discrimination, illiteracy, inequality, casteism, fundamentalism and corruption", he added.

Dussehra is celebrated across India, marking the end of the nine-day Durga Puja.

In the north and northwestern states, it is celebrated by conducting pujas and plays from events of the Ramayana over the nine-day 'Navaratri', and burning effigies of Ravana, Kumbhkaran and Meghnad along with fireworks on the tenth day to mark the destruction of evil.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also attended the Ram Leela celebrations at the DDA grounds in Dwarka.