BHUBANESWAR: As millions of devotees breathed a sigh of relief after the Supreme Court allowed the Rath Yatra at Puri and asked the Odisha Government and Centre to work in tandem, the BJP was quick to let the world know who made it possible.
And the words came from none other than Union Home Minister Amit Shah who took to micro-blogging site Twitter to drive home the point that it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention which facilitated the whole process.
Shah’s comments on the development in social media made it amply clear that a favourable judgment from the apex court was possible following the intervention of the Prime Minister.
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“Last evening, as per the instructions of PM @narendramodi, I spoke to Gajapati Maharaj Ji (The King of Puri) and the respected Shankaracharya Ji of Puri and sought their views on the Yatra. This morning, on PM’s instructions, I also spoke to the Solicitor General,” said one of his tweets. He followed it with another-
“It makes me, as well as crores of devotees across India happy that PM @narendramodi not only understood the sentiment of the devotees but also initiated consultations which ensured that the great traditions of our land are observed.”
Interestingly, BJP’s aggressive move comes days after Shah’s first virtual rally address to the State where he had announced to make Odisha an impregnable fortress of the saffron party.
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The saffron party had extended its support to the apex court order for withholding the annual car festival much to the chagrin of the ruling Biju Janata Dal. Doing a turnaround, the Odisha Government requested the apex court for reversal of its earlier order as numerous petitions were filed on the issue.
Earlier in the day, the saffron party had made its move. State BJP president Samir Mohanty exuded confidence that the Supreme Court will consider the sentiments of people and give a favourable order for holding Rath Yatra. Mohanty was first to inform that Union Home Minister Amit Shah had spoken to Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb on the issue.
Later all most all the senior leaders including prominent Union Ministers like JP Nadda, Prakash Javedekar, Dharmendra Pradhan, Pratap Sarangi and national vice president Baijayant Panda joined the social media thanking the PM and Shah for making the Rath Yatra possible.
Watch Rath Yatra online and on TV
With the Supreme Court allowing free coverage of Rath Yatra by the visual media, the Centre and the State Government made required arrangements for live telecast of the annual festival. While Doordarshan will live telecast along with several other channels, the I & PR dept will broadcast the event through its YouTube channel ‘IPROdisha’.