By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI /BHUBANESWAR/PURI: Is Puri King Gajapati Dibyasingh Deb Helpless? Is Naveen Patnaik led Government misguiding Lord’s Devotees? Is it a well planed theory to stall Rath Yatra in Puri ? These are few questions raise now.A day after the Supreme Court disallowed this year’s Rath Yatra in Puri, a modification petition was filed in the apex court on Friday.
Petitioner Aftab Hussain from Nayagarh has sought a partial modification in the court’s order praying the court to enforce complete shutdown during conduct of the rituals in Puri.He also prayed for conducting of Rath Yatra only in Puri. The petitioner’s advocate Pranaya Kumar Mohapatra said the writ petition hasn’t been listed for hearing and it would be done on Monday.
Puri Govardhan Peeth Shankaracharya Swami Nischalananda Saraswati, along with priests of the Jagannath temple, on Friday insisted that the Supreme Court “reconsider” its decision to stay the Rath Yatra this year and allow the servitors to observe the festival with precautions in place.
Though he maintained that the apex court has rightly halted the ‘Mage Parab”, amid the Covid-19 pandemic, he said the decision to stall the Rath Yatra could be re-evaluated by “allowing only a handful of servitors to conduct the festival”.
“Devotees this year can witness the rituals on television,” he stated.Notably, the Shankaracharya is the religious head, whose views on disputes are accepted by one and all in the Jagannath Temple.
Amid uncertainty over the conduct of Ratha Jatra of Lord Jagannath and his siblings in Odisha’s Puri, a meeting of the Chhatisa Nijoga and Shree Jagannath Temple Managing Committee was held in the presence of Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb.
While the Supreme Court has disallowed the annual festival, Gajapati Maharaja said after the meeting that they are hopeful of partial modification in the Supreme Court’s order as fresh petitions in this regard were filed today.
“We can’t make a decision over the Ratha Jatra as the matter is sub-judice now. However, the Supreme Court’s order is an interim one. Hearing over the modification petition will take place on Monday and we will wait till then,” he said.
The apex court was told that 10-12 lakh people are likely to congregate during the festival and the order was based on that, while our plan was to hold the rituals without any devotees which was not presented before the court, Gajapati Maharaja said.
The Chhatisa Nijoga will hold discussions regarding alternate rituals of the Ratha Jatra inside the temple on Saturday and Sunday in case the order of the Supreme Court remains unchanged on Monday, he added.
The Chattisa Nijog, the apex body of servitors of the temple, has also urged the State Government to move the Supreme Court for a reassessment of its verdict.
“It seems that the Supreme Court was not properly apprised of the preparations made by the temple administration and the Odisha Government for the June 23 Rath Yatra,” the Nijog said in a letter to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
“The Centre had allowed chariot construction for the festival and, accordingly, all arrangements were made with carpenters and servitors made to undergo health screening from time to time. The State Government should immediately move the apex court for a modification of its order,” the Nijog added.
Meanwhile, the Srijagannath Sena and the Srikshetra Suraksha Bahini staged protests in the town claiming that the State Government did nothing to facilitate conduct of the festival.
