There seems to be no end to the controversy surrounding food consumption on eclipse day that kicked off in the State after some rationalists held a chicken biryani feast in Bhubaneswar during Solar Eclipse.
Kharvel Nagar police on Wednesday arrested eight ritualists who were earlier detained on charges of forcibly entering Lohia Academy in Bhubaneswar and attacking rationalists during lunar eclipse on November 8.
Worth mentioning, demanding action against the rationalists, some ritualists on Tuesday lodged a complaint at Kharvel Nagar police station. They even accused the police of protecting the rationalists.
“Police have detained those who opposed rationalists. But they have not taken any steps against those who are attacking on Hinduism. We even met the DGP on November 6, requesting action against rationalists but to no avail. If no stringent action is taken against those anti-Hindus, we would intensify our strike and gherao the police station,” Swarup Kar, a complainant had said yesterday.
At the same time, a complaint has also been lodged against a rationalist at Singhadwar police station in Puri allegedly for giving a slanderous statement against Lord Jagannath.
The complainant alleged, “It is mentioned in the ‘puranas’ that Mahaprasad is offered to Lord Jagannath. Today we came across a video clip wherein a rationalist is saying chicken curry instead of Mahaprasad should be offered to Lord Jagannath. This hurt us deeply. So we deposited the video with the Singhadwar police station besides lodging a complaint against the rationalist.”
In the video, the rationalist can be heard saying, “If I offer rice, dal and chicken to Jagannath, he wouldn’t refuse and have them as he would have ‘abhada’. Has Jagannath ever denied his worshipping? Those who worship him often say they wouldn’t worship him on a given day. He wouldn’t complain even if he is not worshipped for thousands of years.”
(Reported by Alok Mohanty from Bhubaneswar and Madhusudan Mishra from Puri, OTV)