Reiterating its demand for concerted effort towards building a rational society, the Freethought Party of India (FPI) has protested the observance of Snan Purnima and Rath Yatra in Puri and other parts of the State.
The party also lamented that due to the sponsorship of the Government to religious festivals, some unscrupulous elements manage to exploit the innocent people. The party cited the loot by unscrupulous builders, chit fund operators and cine stars which happened by cashing in on the gullibility of the victims.
The theocratic belief which was cunningly planted by feudal lords and medieval monarchs in the soil of Odisha - viz in different erstwhile princely States and in different Zamidaries through temples associated with numberless rituals, animal sacrifices etc are still in continuation in almost all cities, towns and villages of Odisha, said a FPI release.
The party also stated that if leaders like Dr Harekrushna Mahtab, Naba Krushna Choudhury, Biswanath Das and others had insisted upon the principle of separation of religion from politics, no religious festival of any kind being observed in any part of Odisha would have cast any spell on the people. The FPI is of the firm opinion that the initial leaders of Odisha chose to associate themselves in perpetuating the myth of lord of Jagannath as the Rastriya Devata of the State of Odisha, the release said.
The BJD, the BJP and the Congress are often indulging in petty politics when it comes to lord Jagannath of Puri and none of them has ever objected to the presence of 21 Hindu temples in the campus of the Utkal University. Nobody has ever objected to the observance of Rath Yatra in the university, it said.