Odisha Stampede: When Political Bigwigs Try to Outweigh Lord Jagannath

Barely three days have passed since the world-famous Rath Yatra in Puri was celebrated. This year’s festival is bound to be remembered on a sad note, as complete lawlessness prevailed when a stampede claimed the lives of three pilgrims, leaving about 700 people reportedly injured.

In addition, what is going to be remembered is that, for the first time in its history, the chariot of Lord Jagannath, Nandighosh, could not be pulled from the temple for reasons not yet known.

However, what played up visibly was not only a mammoth number of pilgrims, but the huge number of leaders (VIPs) from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who virtually pushed through the prohibited safety ring around, creating a situation where the law keepers were rendered mute onlookers.

“We wonder what made the administration allow such a chaotic situation inside the safety ring, converting it to a roaming ground for the VIPs and their families lounging there, obstructing the rituals done by the sevayats (priests) and officials”, said Ipsit Pratihari, a senior sevayat at the Puri temple.

It is said that discipline and room for manoeuvre was not given the required priority. Even protocols were violated in certain areas by powerful BJP leaders who tried to enter the grand road with motorcades, which was strictly prohibited for all.

“If that was not a display of an attitude borne out of arrogance of power, then what was it?” questioned Piku Patnaik, a lawyer who heads the Jagannath Sena in Puri. “An incident that hit the morale of the police was when a Union minister drove through, with a motorcade, and was stopped by an IPS in-charge of traffic regulation. Sadly, the latter was given a dose of the minister’s clout and virtually insulted by the minister who dubbed the officer ‘a mere IPS’ and went ahead.

Till the evening, the area where Lord Jagannath’s chariot was parked remained clogged by VIPs coming in the way of the rituals before the chariot could be pulled.

The coincidences are amazing. When ‘Nandighosh’ was immovable, the bigwigs inside the cordon suddenly sported smiles when industrialist Gautam Adani reached Puri late evening on June 27 and worshipped the Lord. However, there were murmurs in the air that the delay in pulling the chariots was created for Adani although there is no such evidence to support this.

When asked by the media why the Lord’s chariot was not moving, the Chief Administrator of Puri temple, Arabinda Padhi said, “that is perhaps the Lord’s wish”. “This coming from a senior IAS officer who was literally heading the entire arrangement of the festival speaks of his desperation for the leeway and skirt responsibility”, said Pratihari, the sevayat.

The Law Minister of Odisha, Prithviraj Harichandan, and the then Superintendent of Police Vineet Agarwal (transferred now) spoke about the logjam of the chariot of the Lord in similar vein. Ultimately, the Lord’s Chariot could not move on June 27 (day of the Rath Yatra), which is seen as a “bad precedent” and an aberration in the rituals of the Lord.   

“Why did the Damocles sword fall on two officers (the Collector of Puri and the SP) only, and why was the minister concerned, Prithviraj Harichandan, not asked to resign for such an anomaly taking place in his presence”, Saumitra Harichandan, a senior journalist in Puri told NewsClick.

Transfers or suspensions do not compensate for such a huge anomaly when over 700 were injured and three persons died in a man-made mess. Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi owes an explanation for why his political colleagues exhibit themselves in a way to be seen above the traditions of the deities.

“During the erstwhile regime under Naveen Patnaik (of Biju Janata Dal), although it was a bureaucratic-driven system, as Chief Minister he used to keep a personal vigil in Puri till all the chariots started rolling on the Grand Road. But under BJP, it is the ministers and ‘netas’ who blow their sirens a notch higher in a bid to fill years-old voids”, Rabi Das, a political commentator, noted while talking to NewsClick.

The writer is a freelance journalist based in Odisha, with over 40 years’ experience in the profession.