It is ridiculous to find the mudslinging over the Puri temple missing keys issue between the BJD and the BJP.
What is shocking in this is that these two parties which had been in power in the State for nine long years are selectively targeting each other by trying to pass the buck. For, while launching an attack against the rival, be it the BJP or the BJD, their party interests take precedence over the State’s.
Though temple keys missing issue is a tip of the iceberg in the messy temple affairs in Puri, it gives an opportunity to look at the myriad other irregularities taking place in the temple.
The Puri lord is respected by people all over the world, but His abode has been infamous due to the highhandedness of some greedy servitors, who don’t seem to care two hoots for the law of the land and are convinced that since they are closer to the lord of the Universe, they can only make or break a law with impunity.
That is why despite several reforms in the temple rules, and its administrative control having been handed over to a special body, ie, the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA), besides the authority vested on the Puri Collector and SP to run the temple, the servitors run rudderless. No amount of disciplinary action, police and legal interventions has reined in the recalcitrant servitors.
A few of the servitors behave like goons and never hesitate to harass the visitors. In the last Nabakalebar, the secret rituals of the lords were allegedly filmed and circulated for vested interest.
Right from the choice of the Daru to their final transportation to the temple yard, allegations of irregularities were galore. Even some leading ruling politicians, including the then law Minister, had come under scanner for the nexus with the servitors.
Similarly, mounting the chariots during Rath Yatra was another issue that put the servitors at loggerheads with the administration. The illegal and clandestine occupation and sellout of the Shreemandir land and encroachment of the Swagdwar land are some of the lingering disputes which are yet to be sorted out.
By all accounts, the Ratna Bhandar keys missing issue was a valid point to attack the temple administration and State Government, be it the BJP or anyone else.
So, it is the collective responsibility of all to see that the temple is managed well. There is no point in attacking the BJP or amy of its leaders like Dharmendra Pradhan or Biswabhusan Harichandan.
The BJD Government has been in power in the State for close to two decades and hence, it owes an answer as to why it did not make regular inventory of the Ratna Bhandar jewelleries.
The inventory of the treasury room should have been conducted once every three years. While it has failed on this front, the missing keys speak volume about its sheer recklessness.
Besides it also raises a finger at the transparency maintained to guard the lord’s wealth.