BHUBANESHWAR, Dec 1: Opposition Congress in Odisha on Friday took out a ‘Tulsi Yatra’ in which ‘tulsi’ or basil leaves collected from houses across 314 blocks of the state were offered to Lord Jagannath in Puri as a mark of protest over closure of the three of the four gates of the 12th-century shrine.
The Congress, which organised the 60km ‘Tulsi Yatra’ from Bhubaneswar to Puri, carried the leaves in a vehicle decorated as a ‘rath’ with idols of Lord Jaganath and his siblings placed at the top.
Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Sarat Pattnayak, in-charge A Chellakumar, former presidents Prasad Harichandan and Jaydev Jena, campaign committee chairman Bijay Patnaik, MLAs Taraprasad Bahinipati and Suresh Routray and many other senior party leaders took part in the yatra, which started from Congress Bhawan here.
“As the government has shut three doors of the temple, devotees are suffering. Congress supporters from across the state brought tulsi leaves for offering to Lord Jagannath,” said Chellakumar.
Pattanayak said they organised the yatra to wake up the government from slumber so that they can reopen all the four gates.
“Though we had raised this demand before the beginning of Kartik month, the government did not listen. We are holding this unique protest to request the government to reopen the doors,” he said.
The Congress also demanded reopening of the temple’s treasury ‘Ratna Bhandar’, which has remained closed since 1978. The temple’s treasury should be reopened for its repair and inventory of valuables stored inside its chambers, the president said.
Senior BJD leader Amar Prasad Satpathy said the Congress doesn’t have any issue in its hands, so it is playing religion politics.
On November 9, the Congress had staged an agitation named as ‘Sankirtan Satyagraha’ in which the leaders and workers performed ‘Sankirtan’ in front of different Jagannath temples across the state to press the government to reopen the four gates of the temple.
Prior to this, the party had staged demonstrations in Puri on October 16 over the same demand. (PTI)
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