BHUBANESWAR: In an uncharacteristic statement from a politician, president of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Niranjan Patnaik has appealed people of the State not to observe ‘Chhadkhai’.
Patnaik, who is facing a dissident movement to remove him from top post of the party, has urged the people to desist from killing fish, birds and animals to celebrate Chhadkhai. Chhadkhai is a festival which falls on the day following the holy Kartik Purnima. People, who abstain from taking non-vegetarian meals for the whole month of holy Kartik, break that resolve by having non-vegetarian food on the day.
Patnaik said in a statement, “Our belief is that the God who has created man has created all the living creatures in this world. I appeal to you all not to encourage killing of thousands of living creatures to appease your tongue on the occasion of Chhadkhai.”