Bhubaneswar: Artistes of a Jatra troupe invited protests from the audience for allegedly showing disrespect to Lord Jagannath during the staging of a play in Balasore district of Odisha yesterday.

The incident took place at Bidu near Soro in Balasore. The organizers were forced to stop the play for around 20 minutes due to the protests.

The artistes of ‘Swarna Mahal’ Jatra troupe allegedly showed disrespect to Lord Jagannath while delivering dialogues during staging of play ‘Swami Painee Pachhe Narka ku Jibi’.

While delivering the dialogue, one of the artistes allegedly uttered that ‘Lord Jagannath is at my feet’ (Jagannath Mo Pada Tale).

This invited sharp protests from the audience. A few of them reportedly hurled chairs at the stage.

“Lord Jagannath is the master of the whole universe. He is the pride of 4.5 crore Odia people. We will not tolerate any disrespect to the Lord,” said a few spectators.

The situation was brought to the normal and the artistes were allowed to continue with their performance at the behest of the organisers.

It is worth mentioning here that an artiste of Singhabahini Jatra troupe had faced massive outrage for showing disrespect to Lord Jagannath during staging of play ‘Bada Bedardi Kala Saanta’ in Nachuni area of Khurda district on September 16.

A written complaint was lodged at Badambadi police station in Cuttack after a video of the incident went viral on social media.

In the video, the artiste was seen removing garlands and ceremonial shawls from the idol of Lord Jagannath at the stage.

He later tied the idol in a towel and left the stage with the idol hanging from his shoulder.