Bengaluru, Id-Miladunnabi, was celebrated across the state on Friday with devotion but on a subdued note owing to the Covid pandemic.

The usual festive buzz was missing in various localities in Bengaluru where Muslims live in large numbers such as Shivajinagar, Tilak Nagar, Bapuji Nagara, Gori Palya and other localities.

Clad in their festive best, Muslims thronged mosques to offer Friday prayers but not in large numbers.

Speaking to IANS, Ashrfulla Khan resident of Yelahanka said, "This is a day of reverence not Eid. For any Muslim, Eid - Ramzan and Bakrid - are the top-most celebration days. When we could not do it on these days, this would be naturally on a smaller scale."

He added that though many youngsters wanted to celebrate it but community elders prevented them owing to the Covid pandemic. "We convinced youngsters that it was not appropriate on our part to celebrate it on a large scale," he said.

A flower merchant from City Market, Devaraj told IANS that there was not much demand for flowers this time around. "Id-Milad provided a big opportunity for flower sellers of our market to sell in large quantities. When there is no large scale celebraton, how can Muslim or Hinnu buy flowers. Even during the Dasara, there was not much sale when compared to previous years," he said.

Meanwhile, a senior Urdu journalist, Siddique Alduri also said that community elders took steps even before the Wakf board issued notification. "At community level, the elders had taken a decision to not allow youngsters to organise any rally on Id-Milad day. That has paid dividends. This time many Muslims observed in local mosques hearing sermons on Prophet's life, instead organising any rally or big functions where thousands used to gather," he said.