Bhubaneswar/Cuttack/Puri: The controversial issue of touching the deities on the chariots has refused to die down as the Opposition Congress and BJP raised the matter again in the Assembly during zero hour today.
BJP’s KV Singhdeo reiterated the version of party colleague Basant Panda who on Monday asked the government to comply with Sankaracharya's advice. Similarly, Congress member Tara Prasad Bahinipati sought the Speaker’s intervention asking him to order government to resolve the matter through discussion with the ‘Daitapati Niyoga’ (Servitors’ association). His senior colleague and leader of Opposition Narasingh Mishra demanded an all-party meet over the subject.
On the other hand, servitors wrote to Chief Minister justifying climbing the chariots is not a sin rather a tradition. The Daitapati Niyog shot off a letter to CM Naveen Patnaik presenting the issue as a tradition of Sri Jagannath temple. “It is not a sin if anybody touches the deities on the chariots”, Niyog president Ramakrishna Das Mohapatra said.
The pundits of Puri Mukti Mandap also came out strongly in support of the Puri seer. “The Sankaracharya has the only right to take decision in any religious matter. His decision should be strictly maintained,” Biswambar Das, vice-president of Mukti Mandap Pundit Sabha, said.
Similarly, the socio-cultural and literary organization, Nilachakra, has echoed a similar view favoring the Sankaracharya. The organization has sought CM’s intervention for speedy redressal of the issue. However, the organization warned of protests if views of the Sankaracharya and Gajapati Maharaj are disrespected.