With State elections barely a year away the ‘Rath Rajniti’ gained momentum in Bengal — keeping pace with the Hindutva narrative — as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday inaugurated the first Jagannath Rath Yatra from the newly constructed `200 crore Jagannath Temple — at beach town of Digha — a grand and exquisite replica of its ancient Puri alter ego.
This, whereas Opposition Elder Suvendu Adhikari — who earlier called Banerjee’s devotion towards Jagannath a “fake” one and only to pull the wools before the eyes of the Sanatani Hindus “for all that sin she has committed by appeasing and inviting the Bangladeshis and Rohingyas in Bengal,” — celebrated the festival in Kolkata and his hometown Tamluk by pulling at the ropes of the Lord’s chariot.
Banerjee along with her cabinet colleagues pulled the ropes of the Lord’s chariot and those of his two siblings Balabhadra and Subhadra amid loud chanting of “Joy Jagannath” by thousands of pilgrims, including foreigners.
After Odisha, Jagannath Rath Yatra is largely celebrated in Bengal with the 600-year-old Rath Yatra at Mahesh in Hooghly district being the second oldest such tradition after Puri in the country.
Banerjee who was accompanied by the sadhus of International Society of Krishna Consciousness began around 2 pm with the ceremonially sweeping of the road — with specially designed a golden broom — on which the three chariots rolled.
This even as thousands of people gathered on the two sides of the road in the beach town celebrating the festivities.
Meanwhile, Adhikari who pulled the Lord’s ropes both in Kolkata and Tamluk called the Rath Yatra inaugurated by the Chief Minister a sham.
“She has the audacity to distribute sweets procured from Muslim shops among the residents of Bengal calling them Prasad … she is playing with Hindu religion and its traditions,” Adhikari who himself arranged from “real Maha Prasadam from Puri” to be distributed among the people said.