Personnel from paramilitary forces posted across the country have decided not to celebrate Holi as a mark of tribute to the 12 CRPF personnel who were killed in a Naxal ambush in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh.
The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has issued orders that no "regimental function related to Holi celebrations" will be observed at any field formation.
Personnel of sister forces like CISF, BSF, ITBP and SSB expressed their solidarity with the country's largest paramilitary force, and announced that they too will not be celebrating the festival of colours in their respective establishments.
It said the gesture was to express "solidarity" with the family members of the slain men, and that the directions are to be followed by the "entire force in letter and spirit".
The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) said, "tributes to the brave martyrs of @crpfindia who made supreme sacrifice in Sukma. No Holi celebration by #ITBP."
Earlier, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, too, said he will not celebrate the festival in view of the Sukma ambush.
In one of the deadliest attacks on security forces this year, 12 CRPF personnel were killed and their arms looted, when Naxals ambushed their patrol party in the Maoist hotbed of Sukma in Chhattisgarh on 11 March .
The slain personnel were cremated with state honours at their native places on Sunday, even as a team of senior Home Ministry officials led by Senior Security Adviser K Vijay Kumar and acting CRPF Director General Sudeep Lakhtakia toured the ambush site on motorbikes yesterday.
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