Devotees Go To Supreme Court On Puri Rath Yatra

Devotees go to SC on Puri Rath Yatra as Patnaik Govt Strolls tightrope in the midst of ascending in COVID-19 cases. With the coronavirus pandemic having turned the well-established convention of the yearly Rath Yatra at the Jagannath Temple in Odisha’s Puri into a lawful knot and a political discussion, a large number of enthusiasts in the state and outside are ending up at a misfortune.

In spite of the perils presented by the chance of an enormous number of devotees congregating at the twelfth-century coastline Temple for the world-popular celebration, not many in Odisha need the deep-rooted strict party to be halted totally this year. What’s more, the planned date is only a day away, on June 23.

A day after the  Supreme Court took up the issue on June 18 and refused the yatra this year attributable to the pandemic, expressing that “Lord Jagannath won’t pardon us in the event that we permitted the rath yatra,” the Odisha government chose to comply with the judgment.

Be that as it may, voices of dissent against the Naveen Patnaik-drove Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government developed not long after from opposition groups and the Puri Temple authorities.

Presently, with two top figures connected to this superior Hindu Temple – Gajapati Ruler Dibyasingha Deb and Jagadguru Shankaracharya – having made their disappointment with the state government open, the government is in a quandary.

Upwards of 16 mediation petitions have been recorded in the Supreme Court, including one by a Muslim student from Odisha, appealing to God for the Rath Yatra be permitted to be held with obnoxious safety measures and with no devotees. The petitions are booked to be heard by the top court on Monday.

“The (state) government’s treatment of the (Rath Yatra) matter has not been agreeable. The Supreme Court, in the event that it had wanted, could have taken up the petitions on June 20 and made ready (for a confined Rath Yatra without fans congregating)… This causes it to feel like there is a sorted out trick to stop the Rath Yatra,” said the Shankaracharya Guru Shri Nischalananda Saraswati of Govardhan Peeth, one of the three cardinal Hindu cloisters in the nation.

Puri’s nominal Gajapati Ruler Dibyasingha Deb, who is required by convention to play out certain obligatory ceremonies at Rath Yatra consistently, has composed a three-page letter to Naveen Patnaik asking him to move the top court and get this show on the road at Puri.

“The state government didn’t put the make a difference appropriately under the steady gaze of the Supreme Court (on June 18). For what reason didn’t the government’s advice tell the top court that there won’t be 10 lakh devotees amassing this time? For what reason didn’t the insight advise the Supreme Court of the plans being made by the temple organization to hold a confined Rath Yatra with all safety measures? The (state) government should now move toward the court to permit the Rath Yatra,” said Dibyasingha Deb.

A few high-positioning clerics of Srimandir (Lord Jagannath’s temple at Puri) on Sunday encouraged the Patnaik government to give a mandate clearing the way for the Rath Yatra in which just ‘sevayats’ (temple functionaries) will pull the chariots. The sevayats have been intermittently tried for coronavirus as of late and have been staying in shape, they said.

Be that as it may, the BJD government, navigating a precarious situation, is yet to decide even as it is confronting fire from the opposition BJP and Congress on the issue.

On the COVID-19 front, the state enlisted 304 new cases, the biggest single-day spike up until this point, and two passings were accounted for, taking the all-out tainted number to 5,160 and the loss of life to 14. There are 1,421 tainted individuals being treated in the state right now while 3,720 have recouped up until now.