India’s second biggest annual procession (Rath Yatra) of lord Jagannath in Ahmedabad concluded peacefully on Wednesday in presence of lakhs of devotees and amid tight security arrangements at around 8.45 pm.
The main feature of the event was participation of large number of Muslims in the Rath Yatra. In its 15 km long route, the Rath Yatra passes through several Muslim dominated areas. However, local Muslim leaders came forward to welcome the lord Jagannath’s procession and set an example of communal harmony.
In the past the State administration had witnessed communal tension during the annual procession. Keeping the fact in mind entire route of the 139th Rath Yatra of lord Jagannath was converted into fortress in order to avoid untoward incidents. The Ahmedabad Rath Yatra is considered as the second only to Jagannath Puri in Odisha.
After Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel performed a religious ceremony called ‘Pahind Vidhi’ at four century old Jagannath Temple in Jamalpur area at around 9 am, decorated Chariots of lord Jagannath, his brother Balbhadra and sister Subhadra initiated their sojourn and hundreds of devotees followed them from the temple. As the procession marched, people continuously joined the procession.
It is worth mentioning that ‘Pahind Vidhi’ – a ritual of cleaning the route of the procession with golden broom to flag off the annual function is traditionally done by Gujarat Chief Minister irrespective of party line. This is for the third time current Gujarat CM Anandiben performed the ritual. Prime Minister Narendra Modi too performed the same ritual for 13 long years when he was Gujarat Chief Minister.
PM Modi too tweeted: “May the blessings of lord Jagannath lead to development of villages, well-being of poor and farmers and take India to new heights of progress.” Meanwhile BJP’s national president and Naranpura MlA Amit Shah also visited the Jagannath temple as early as 4 am to attend ‘Mangla Aarti’.
The Chariots of lord Jagannath were accompanied by 18 decorated elephants, 101 trucks, around 30 religious congregations and 20 singing troupes. Several tableaux were also part of the procession, including one on foreign visits and diplomacy of PM Narendra Modi attracted the attention of the hordes of devotees who thronged to have glimpse of their deity lord Jagannath traversing for over 12 hours across the walled city.
“More than 18,000 security personnel include Gujarat police, SRP, CRPF as well as Para-military forces were deployed enroute the procession deployed. The entire route is being monitored by police through a network of CCTV cameras, connected with two control rooms, one in the city and another in state capital Gandhinagar,” said joint commissioner of police JK Bhatt. According to Bhatt the procession was also monitored through camera embedded unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) which were connected with two control rooms one in Ahmedabad and another at the State capital Gandhinagar.
Apart from Ahmedabad, over 100 Rath Yatras were taken across Gujarat to mark the auspicious day of ‘Ashathi Bij’ on Wednesday. As per Gujarati Hindu calendar, Ashathi Bij is considered as beginning of monsoon. The state police claimed that all the processions completed in peaceful manner.