Respected Chief Minister, last (Saturday) evening, I listened to the Gajapati Maharaja’s interview in the Kanak TV on NabaKalebar. The anguish in his voice and a feeling of helplessness it conveyed over mismanagement in the most sacred of the lords’ rituals -- Brahma transfer -- overwhelmed me. I wonder if your preoccupations with affairs of State at that hour of the day would have enabled you to listen to his talk. But I am sure thousands did and felt hurt, as I was.
I would like to submit with a sense of responsibility of an Indian citizen that a person who hurts the religious sentiments of another by his action commits an offence under the Indian law. The widely-publicised innumerable acts of omission and commission from the Banajaga Jatra till Ghata Parivartan have caused immense pain to millions of devotees and hurt their religious sentiments. Those people who caused it should have been taken care of by the law of the land. That you and the Minister of law have preferred to maintain silence does not seem to have helped the situation where as a worthwhile Government intervention would have ensured law to have taken its course, swiftly and decisively.
The Temple Administration is reportedly conducting an inquiry. This initiative, unfortunately, suffers credibility deficit. The Chief Administrator, who is conducting the probe, has been witnessing the reported mismanagement. In all fairness, his actions and inactions also need to be probed. I would request for your immediate intervention to ensure that (i) a new capable person is posted as Chief Administrator most immediately; (ii) an immediate inquiry be conducted to identify the persons whose actions and inactions have brought in mismanagement and resulted in hurting the religious sentiments of millions of devotees; and (iii) action as per the law of the land be taken most expeditiously.