leader of Opp questions propriety of basis of ban
The all-party meeting convened by Speaker Niranjan Pujari on Wednesday in a bid to sort out the controversy lingering over the issue of public touching of the deities atop their chariots during the Puri Rath Yatra virtually ended without any concrete solution.
After the meeting, Senior Congress leader and leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra questioned the propriety of the views basing on the Record of Rights (RoR) of Srimandir to ban the touching of lords atop the chariots.
Mishra sought to know where is the RoR that prevents touching of the three lords atop their respective chariots.
“I was law Minister for five years. I have not come across any such RoR of the Jagannath Temple, which prohibits the pilgrims to touch the chariots and the lords atop their respective chariots,” he asserted, while replying to the queries of mediapersons on the opinion of the Shankaracharya of Puri Gobardhan Pitha for a blanket ban on public touching the deities atop their chariots.
It may be noted here that the Speaker had decided to convene an all-party meeting after many Members of the House cutting across party line had urged him for such an arrangement to sort out the row over the sensitive issue.
Samir Ranjan Das (BJD) and Government Chief Whip Ananta Das through point of order during the Zero Hour had raised the issue of convening an all-party meeting. Naba Kishore Das, Taraprasad Bahinipati (both Congress) and Pravat Ranjan Biswal (BJD) had supported the proposal.
Bahinipati had said the representatives of the Daitapatis, Pandas, the Jagannath Temple administration, the Shankaracharya and the local MlA should also be invited to join the meeting. The issue was also raised in the House on Tuesday with Bahinipati demanding a full-fledged discussion in the House to resolve the issue before the Ratha Yatra.
However, Opposition BJP Members had totally distanced themselves from the controversy maintaining that the view of the Shankaracharya should prevail in the matter as it is a religious issue. The House has no role to play in this issue, BJP State president KV Singh Deo had told.
However, sharing the concern of the members, the Speaker had convened the meeting at 5.30 pm in his chamber. It was attended by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, leader of Opposition Mishra, law Minister Arun Sahoo, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Bikram Keshari Arukh, Agriculture Minister Pradeep Moharathy, BJP Member Singh Deo, CPI(M) Member laxman Munda, Congress Member Taraparsad Bahinipati, Puri MlA Maheswar Mohanty and Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Sanjaya Dasburma, among others.
After the meeting, the Speaker who avoided to give any direct reply on the outcome of the meeting, however, said that the meeting was successful and everybody in the meeting were unanimous for smooth conduct of the Rath Yatra. leader of Opposition Mishra also tried to avoid the moot question for which the meeting was convened. He, however, said that the meeting had decided to form a committee comprising the Temple Administrator, Puri MP and MlA, the law Minister and servitors to develop a consensus on the divergent views on the issue.