Bijay Mohapatra Hints At Conspiracy To Defame Lord Jagannath

Bhubaneswar: In the wake of the violence in Puri that took place on October 3, senior BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra on Monday said that a conspiracy has been hatched outside Odisha to defame Lord Jagannath.

“It is the responsibility of the Odisha government and the Centre to identify the conspirators,” Mohapatra told mediapersons here.

Referring to the violence in the Pilgrim Town, he said both the district collector and the SP preferred to remain in their official residence and neither of them made any effort to take stock of the situation.

He also said the hooligans and the onlookers were equally responsible for the unfortunate incident.`

“Strangely, the state government did not take the necessary steps to maintain law and order. Going by the manner in which the incident took place and the inaction of the administration and the police in taking control of the situation, it is now clear that the Jagannath culture in the state is at stake,” Mohapatra observed.

In a statement here on Monday, former minister and expelled BJD leader Damodar Rout said that being the local MLA, Maheswar Mohanty should resign owning moral responsibility for the unfortunate incident. He also said that Mohanty was also the chairman of the Nabakalebara Committee when the Brahma Parivartan fiasco had taken place.

Stating that the entry of the policemen into Jagannath Temple with shoes and firing of rubber bullets at the people by the police was grossly unfortunate, he said the Naveen Patnaik government must have forgotten that Puri is a land of the Lord.