Unique Congress Protest Seeks to Open Lord Jagannath\'s Ratna Bhandar

BHUBANESWAR: Frustrated with the state government’s inaction to meet its demands for opening of Ratna Bhandar, the treasury of Lord Jagannath at Puri; and unlocking all the four doors of Srimandir for devotees, the Odisha state Congress unit on Thursday launched a 'Sankirtan Satyagrah' across the state.

Sankirtan is a cultural programme in which the performers sing songs in praise of deities, seeking their blessings for the wellbeing of human beings.

Srimandir, also called Jagannath temple, is the abode of Lord Jagannath.

While the party members held the Satyagrah in front of the Congress Bhavan in Bhubaneswar by putting the idols of the Holy Trinity (Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra), the Puri unit of the party sat in front of the Singhadwara of Srimandir and performed sankirtan as a mark of protest.

“Our primary demand is to reopen all four doors of the Srimandir. This will help avoid the huge rush at the Singhadwara, the Lion’s Gate, in front of Srimandir. These days, devotees are forced to suffer by standing in long queues. As a result, they often suffer from exhaustion. We are also demanding for early opening of Ratna Bhandar and counting the gems and jewellery inside preserved in it,” said Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Sarat Pattanyak.

The OPCC chief also demanded return of land of farmers that were acquired for the abandoned Vedanta University.

Senior Congress leader Suresh Kumar Routray said, “The Shree JagannathTemple Administration (SJTA) was not forthcoming on the demand for opening of Ratna Bhandar despite an order of the High Court of Orissa.

“As per the court order, the SJTA had promised to open Ratna Bhandar. But now they are not saying anything on it. They are just avoiding it by taking different pleas,” said Routray.

The Congress earlier took out a rally in Puri on October 16 and handed over a memorandum to the Chief of SJTA, Ranjan Kumar Das, demanding reopening of the four doors of the Srimandir. But the SJTA did not take any steps in this connection, prompting the party to hold another protest today.

Reopening of all four gates and the Ratna Bhandar has been a long-standing demand of the Opposition, more importantly, the locals of Puri town. The district administration has already said that all the doors cannot be opened now due to the construction work under the Parikrama project.