Odisha: Congress holds show of strength in Puri ahead of 2024 polls
The grand old party also demands for restoration of mutts, land for servitors
BHUBANESWAR: The Congress state unit of Odisha on Monday held a massive rally in pilgrim city Puri in protest against the state administration’s dilatory approach to address some of the “burning issues” that the party said adversely affected smooth darshan of Lord Jagannath by devotees and inconveniences faced by the local residents.
Led by the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Sarat Pattanayak, the Congress activists held a meeting at the Grand Road after marching the city where the leaders urged the state government to meet some of the pressing demands of the public, including opening of the four gates of Lord Jagannath temple to enable the devotees for smooth darshan deities, restoration of the mutts and some temples which were demolished by the district administration for Jagannath Parikrama Prakalpa, a beautification project.
The other demands made by the Congress included providing record of rights of land to over 80,000 families living in Puri, opening of Lord Jagannath’s treasury (Ratna Bhandar) has remained lock for over four decades, allotment of land to landless temple servitors and return of lands that were acquired for the now-abandoned Vedanta University project.
“As Covid-19 pandemic situation no longer persists, what is the problem in opening all gates of Srimandir (Jagannath temple)?” the OPCC president Mr Pattanayak asked.
He observed that the dilatory approach of the state government to resolve the issues inflicted a lot of pain and miseries to countless devotees thronging the place everyday as well as temple priests and servitors.
The OPCC president threatened to launch a statewide stir if the four gates of the temple were not opened by October 28.
OPCC campaign committee chairperson Bijay Patnaik, said, “The Congress is demanding the reopening of all gates of Puri Srimandir which is also the demand of scores of people and devotees. However, keeping the gates closed for some vested interest contractors is condemnable.”
Senior Congress leader, Prasad Harichandan said, “The Odisha government has created a wall between the devotees and Lord Jagannath. We warn the state government to open all gates of Srimandir for the devotees.”