Bhubaneswar, Nov 23: Orissa Sunday opposed the 'Rath Yatra' (car festival) organised by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in Delhi as it violates the Jagannath cult and hurts religious sentiments of the devotees.
The state law minister Biswabhusan Harichandan wrote a letter to Delhi chief minister Sheila Dixit Saturday opposing the Rath Yatra, an annual festival of Hindus celebrated at Puri housing the famous 12th century Jagannath temple.
Also, a letter has been sent by the temple administration of Puri to Delhi, Haryana and other states. "We have sent a letter to Delhi chief minister and requested her to stop the festival," public relations officer of Puri temple administration Laxmidhar Pujapanda told IANS.
Puri town is the real adobe of Lord Jagannath and the state government says that everyone in and outside Orissa should follow the festival timing.
The festival is held in the sea side town some 56 km from here on the second day of the waxing moon during the month of Ashadha (June-July) in the Indian calendar. The festival is now organised in many countries by the Jagannath devotees.
Hundreds of devotees in the Puri town Nov 11 burnt effigy of Srila Prabhupada, the founder acharya of ISKCON, for untimely holding the Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath.
"We are not a part of the decision taken at New Delhi. Here we follow the rituals of Puri temple," said Golak Mohapatra, an office bearer of Bhubaneswar unit of the ISCKON.
--- IANS
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