BHUBANESWAR: With only a day left for the inauguration of the Shree Jagannath Heritage Corridor, the Opposition political parties seem to be caught in a bind over participation in the grand event and also making their stand clear on the issue.
While state BJP president Manmohan Samal nor any party leader was forthcoming on their participation, the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) has left it to individual members of the party to decide whether to attend or not.
When media persons caught up with Samal during the Swachh Tirth Abhiyan at Ram Mandir here ahead of the Ram Mandir consecration ceremony in Ayodhya, he said “I leave it to you and the people of the state to decide what will be better.” He, however, said the state government has turned the Srimandir programme into a BJD affair which is not acceptable to many.
The Congress leaders are also likely to give the programme a miss. “There is an unwritten communication that it will be better to skip. But there should be no central directive,” a senior leader said.
OPCC president Sarat Pattanayak, all eight MLAs of the party and some senior leaders have been invited to the inauguration of the Parikrama project. Pattanayak will not be attending as he is bereaved. But the leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) Narasingh Mishra said that he will not attend the inauguration. “This is my individual decision,” he said and added that though it is a government function, the BJD has completely overtaken it.
Congress campaign committee chairman Bijay Patnaik said he has not been invited to the function. Addressing a media conference here, Patnaik came down heavily on the state government for taking out chariots (arpan raths) with the idol of Lord Jagannath and moving door to door asking for rice.
“Even, the rice collected from the people in the name of Lord Jagannath is being used by BJD members to eat in feasts. I have seen many such instances in a lot of places in Odisha,” Patnaik said.
BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi had also targeted the state government over the arpan raths moving around the state carrying the idol of Lord Jagannath. While questioning the justification of taking out processions of Lord Jagannath’s idol on trolleys, rickshaws, and pick-up vans, she said this has hurt the sentiments of the people and Jagannath devotees across the globe.
She had also taken exception to the collection of rice from people for the inauguration ceremony terming it against Jagannath culture.