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Normal life was disrupted in Odisha as politics got mixed with religion, God’s rebirth, to be precise.
On Friday, several Express and Rajdhani trains were stopped, delayed, rescheduled and short-terminated outside Bhubaneswar, as Congress had called for a 12-hour Odisha Bandh. According to East Coast Railway, several long-distance trains passing through Odisha, such as Haridwar-Puri, Howrah-Chennai Mail, Visakhapatnam-Amritsar-Hirakud Express were hit.
E-commerce deliveries, too, took a hit. “No deliveries happened in entire Odisha due to the bandh,” Sanjiv Kathuria, Co-founder, Dotzot, told BusinessLine.
Congress had called a bandh as "Nabakalevara rituals" were disrupted during the changeover of "brahma" or the atma of Lord Jagannath, by pandas or daitapatis affiliated to the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD).
The disruption led to delay in the process of changing the daru (neem tree trunks or idols of the three Gods – Jagannath, Balabhadra and Shubhadra) -- by several hours to mid-day next.
Nabakalevara, which signifies Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Shubhadra’s rebirth, is an event in Puri that happens once every 18-19 years when there are two months of Asadha in the Hindu calendar in the run-up to Rath Yatra. Many term it the equivalent of Maha Kumbh Mela in the North.
The trouble began with allegations that the fixing of daru or the new neem stems used to build the idols by Vishwamitras or the pandas did not meet the requisite parameters.
Before Congress took up the issue, Puri’s lawyers union began a protest against what it termed as the State government’s inaction against the disrupters, which spread to other parts of Odisha. Later, several non-government organisations took up the cause, calling for delinking politics from religion.
Now, BJP has joined in and plans to observe a protest week starting June 30, said officials in the know.
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