OSS stages protest over Odisha seer’s insult, demands action against officials

Reported by Santosh Jagdev
Bhubaneswar, July 18:

Odisha Surakhya Sena (OSS), a city-based cultural outfit, today staged a protest  at the Ram Mandir square here against the Odisha government for insulting the Jagadguru Shankaracharya of the Puri Gobardhan Peeth by imposing restrictions on his customary visit to the chariots during the Rath Yatra.

Gajendra Behera, General Secretary of OSS said the state government has no right to dictate terms to the seer and interfere in religious matters or practices of the temple.

Behera held two senior officials of the state government, for insulting the revered Hindu seer by sending a dictatorial letter asking him not to carry anyone with him when he visits the chariots.

He said, by serving such a ‘outrageous notice’ on the Shankaracharya, these officials not only broke a millennium old tradition of the Rath Yatra festival but also caused deep hurt to the sentiments of the people.

” They must be punished  for imposing such restrictions on the seer, who happens to be the chief advisor of the Sri Jagannath temple on all religious matters, ” Behera said,

The members of the OSS demanded the suspension of chief temple administrator of the Sri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) at the earliest.

“We have lodged another complaint report against the chief administrator Arabind Padhee and adminsitrator Prasanna Hota of the SJTA with the Kharvela Nagar Police station,  requesting them to take stringent action as per the law for their undue and illegal interference in religious matters which could have led to communal feelings and unrest”,  Behera said.