Delhi is preparing for heightened security on Dussehra, with around 2,500 personnel from the Delhi Police and central armed paramilitary forces set to be deployed at and around Utsav Ground in East Delhi's IP Extension. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to attend the celebrations on Tuesday evening and participate in the traditional Ravana Dahan ceremony, according to police officers familiar with the arrangements.
A three-layer security cordon has been planned for the Prime Minister's expected presence. The Special Protection Group (SPG), which is responsible for the Prime Minister's close protection, will oversee the innermost cordon. The Prime Minister's security wing of the Delhi Police, including commandos, will form the middle layer, while local police personnel will manage the outer perimeter.
The security deployment will include personnel from central armed paramilitary forces and the Delhi Police, including commandos from the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit operating under the Special Cell.
According to the Hindustan Times, a police officer said the heavy arrangements had been drawn up keeping in mind the threat perception and the possibility of protests or disruptions by anti-social elements at the venue or along the routes used by the Prime Minister.
Entry to the event will be limited to people with valid passes issued by the organisers, and visitors will undergo mandatory searches and frisking at the gates.
The traffic police have issued an advisory regarding traffic diversions around the venue, without mentioning that the arrangements are being made for the Prime Minister's expected visit. Diversions will be in place from 5 pm to 8 pm around NH-24, Roads 55, 56, 57 and 57A, and Vikas Marg.
"Motorists are advised to plan their journeys in advance, allow extra travel time and park only at designated parking places. Avoid roadside parking. Drive carefully, remain patient and follow traffic rules, diversion signs and directions of traffic personnel deployed in the area," the advisory said.
Dussehra, one of India's most widely observed Hindu festivals, marks the victory of good over evil — symbolised by the ceremonial burning of effigies of the demon king Ravan, along with Meghnath and Kumbhkaran. The festival draws massive crowds across the country and is celebrated with religious fervour, Ramleela performances, and public gatherings.
PM Modi has attended major Dussehra programmes in the national capital on several occasions in the past. A year earlier, he joined President Droupadi Murmu at the annual Ramleela celebrations held at Parade Ground near the Red Fort, organised by the Shri Dharmik Leela Committee.
The Prime Minister also attended Ravana Dahan ceremonies conducted by the Shri Ramleela Society at Dwarka Sector 10 in 2023 and 2019, taking part in traditional religious rituals, including puja and aarti for performers representing Lord Rama, Sita, Laxman and Hanuman. In 2022, he travelled to Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh to participate in the Dussehra festivities, which coincided with a historic Deepotsav celebration.
Not every year has gone to plan. Heavy rainfall forced the Prime Minister to cancel his scheduled visit to a Dussehra programme at Patparganj in East Delhi on October 2, 2025. This year's expected visit to the IP Extension event marks a return to the capital's eastern edge for the Prime Minister's Dussehra engagements.
Police have also stepped up security at other Dussehra and Durga Puja venues across the national capital, in addition to the arrangements at Utsav Ground. The festival season in Delhi is a busy one for the police, with large crowds expected at Ravan Dahan events in various parts of the city, and this year the deployment reflects both the anticipated footfall and the security sensitivities around the Prime Minister's presence.
Meanwhile, Tuesday evening will also see Union Home Minister Amit Shah attending a Dussehra programme in Ludhiana, Punjab, as part of his day-long visit to the state, where he is scheduled to burn the symbolic "Ravana of drugs" at a Vijayadashami celebration — a parallel use of the festival's symbolism for a very different political message.
The security posture this year is being shaped by the broader context of the festival season. Durga Puja and Dussehra celebrations have drawn enormous crowds across the country, and crowd safety has been under scrutiny after a stampede at a Durga Puja gathering in Kolkata killed 19 people earlier in the season, an incident that led to nine senior IPS officers being posted on Durga Puja duty in Bengal.
Delhi's own festival venues, from IP Extension to Dwarka and the Red Fort's Parade Ground, routinely see lakhs of visitors over the festive fortnight, and the police say their deployment plan for Tuesday reflects both that footfall and the heightened sensitivities around the Prime Minister's presence.
Delhi's tryst with grand Dussehra celebrations is an old one. The capital's Ramleela tradition — with major organising committees staging performances across the city — has long attracted political attention, and the Ravana Dahan at the city's biggest grounds is as much a civic spectacle as a religious one.
The Shri Dharmik Leela Committee at the Parade Ground and the Shri Ramleela Society in Dwarka are among the most prominent organisers, and the Prime Minister's appearances at their events in recent years have become part of the festival's political theatre.
The three-layer security model being deployed is the standard template for the Prime Minister's public engagements, but its components are worth noting. The innermost cordon is held by the SPG, the elite force raised specifically for the Prime Minister's close protection. The middle ring comprises the Delhi Police's own Prime Minister security wing, including armed commandos who screen access routes and perimeters.
The outer layer is made up of local police personnel who manage crowd movement, traffic and the venue's exterior. SWAT commandos of the Special Cell add a counter-terror element to the mix, a fixture at high-profile public events in the capital since the unit's raising.
Officers involved in the planning have indicated that the arrangements were drawn up with an eye on the threat perception as well as the possibility of protests or disruptions by anti-social elements either along the Prime Minister's route or at the venue itself.
Pass-only entry with mandatory frisking is intended to keep the venue's interior tightly controlled, while the traffic diversions are designed to keep the approach routes clear for the Prime Minister's convoy and emergency access.
For Delhi commuters, the practical takeaway is simpler: avoid NH-24, Roads 55, 56, 57 and 57A, and Vikas Marg between 5 pm and 8 pm on Tuesday, and expect heavy police presence around the IP Extension area through the evening.
(Reporting based on Hindustan Times, ABP Live and News18.)