Odisha Assembly Adjourned Over Impasse In Jagannath Temple

Bhubaneswar: As pandemonium continued to prevail in the Odisha Assembly for the second consecutive day on Wednesday following uproar by the Opposition Congress members over the disruption of rituals in Jagannath Temple of Puri, the Speaker after convening an all-party meeting asked the state government to give a clarification to this effect.

Speaker Pradip Amat had to convene an all-party meeting after adjourning the House twice following the ruckus.

As soon as the question hour session began, leader of the Opposition Narasingha Mishra raised the issue relating to Jagannath Temple and requested the Speaker Pradip Amat to cancel the question hour and initiate a discussion on the matter. As the Speaker did not give his ruling, the irate Congress members rushed into the well of the House. Amid uproar, the Speaker adjourned the House till 11.30 am.

The Speaker was also forced to adjourn the house twice till 12.50 pm as the Congress members disrupted the proceedings.

To resolve the matter, the Speaker convened an all-party meeting at 1 pm.

Expressing grave concern over the incident, the leader of the Opposition said the state government has become paralytic and gone off its head.

“The Opposition members have been demanding a discussion on the matter since 11.30 am on Tuesday. We had urged the government to invite the Opposition to deliberation on the matter, but the Speaker did not listen to our concern which indicates that either the government has lost the direction or is unable to take a decision on this sensitive matter. In such circumstances, we will say what we have to stay and do what we have to do,” Mishra pointed out.

In his statement, senior BJD leader Damodar Rout said since Lord Jagannath remains in the heart of every Odia, any lapse in his service is grossly unfortunate. “Instead of playing politics in the name of Lord Jagannath, efforts should be made to ensure that the service and daily rituals of the Lord go on smoothly. God will not tolerate those who are trying to politicise this matter,” he explained.

Stating that the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) is not doing the right thing by interfering in the temple matter, Rout said it is the high time that the Gobardhan Peeth Shankaracharya  and the Puri Gajapati king should intervene in the matter and restore normalcy in the temple.

Talking to mediapersons after the adjournment of the House, Congress chief whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati said, “Due to the face-off between the servitors and the temple administration in the Jagannath Temple, the Lords have left without food for two days. Even there will be no ‘baradi abhada’ (Mahaprasad on order) for the devotees today. The situation has deeply hurt the sentiments of millions of devotees in Odisha and abroad. Under such circumstances we will not allow the Assembly to function until the normalcy prevails in the temple. It does not matter whether the House will run or not since the Lord of our land has remained without food.”

“The clarification regarding the impasse in the Jagannath temple has to be given either by the chief minister or the Law minister. Other than these two leaders, we will ignore the clarification given by any ruling member,” Bahinipati told the media after the all-party meeting.