Bhubaneswar: A day after a devotee died during the Bahuda Yatra of Lord Jagannath and siblings in Puri, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president Naveen Patnaik on Saturday lashed out at the Odisha government accusing of having failed to learn from past mistakes.
A 57-year-old devotee, identified as Abhiram Das from Kataka, died after he fell ill and fainted while pulling the ‘Darpadalan’ chariot of Devi Subhadra on Friday. He was rushed to the hospital but was declared dead by doctors.
Noting that he was “deeply saddened and heartbroken” by the incident, Naveen extended his condolences to the bereaved family and prayed for the speedy recovery of those injured in the stampede.
The former chief minister, however, expressed sharp disappointment over the recurring nature of such accidents during the annual Rath Yatra. He sought to know as to why accidents, and deaths keep happening every year during the Rath Yatra despite it being a massive annual event. He accused the government of failing to improve crowd management and safety measures over the years.
“Yet, why do such accidents keep occurring repeatedly during Rath Yatra? Why is the government working in such a carefree manner? It is extremely concerning that the government does not seem to attach any importance to ensuring the safe completion of Mahaprabhu’s nine-day sacred journey,” the BJD chief said in a post on X.
Naveen, who is also the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Odisha Assembly, accused the government of being casual and negligent in managing this world-famous religious event.
“It feels as though this government has no inclination to learn from past mistakes. One after another, accidents are happening every year during Rath Yatra—people are losing their lives, the state is being discredited—but there is no change whatsoever in the government’s approach. Rather than learning from errors, it seems like everything is being handled with a stopgap policy,” Naveen claimed.
“After how many more accidents will the government wake up? When such incidents occur every year, it is all the more unfortunate that the government learns nothing from them,” the ex-CM said.
The BJD supremo urged the government to take special care to ensure the smooth and safe completion of the remaining events — from Suna Besha to Niladri Bije — so that no more devotees lose their lives while seeking darshan of Lord Jagannath.
