Bhubaneswar: Biju Janata Dal Supremo and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik strongly denounced Puri Lok Sabha candidate Sambit Patra for calling Lord Jagannath an ardent devotee of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Patra made this statement while giving a byte to a regional electronic news channel during PM Modi’s visit to Puri on Monday.
According to sources, Modi arrived in Puri from Bhubaneswar around 7.30 am today and went straight to the Jagannath Temple to pay obeisance to Lord Jagannath and his siblings Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra. After praying there, he embarked on a roadshow with Sambit Patra, the BJP Lok Sabha nominee for the Puri constituency, and the MLA candidates under the Parliamentary seats.
Following PM’s roadshow, BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate for Puri Sambit Patra, who was on cloud nine, in a byte to an electronic media, said, “Lakhs of people have come to Puri to see Modi. Lord Jagannath is a devotee of Modi. And we all belong to Modi’s family. I cannot control my emotions. No doubt, today is a special day for every Odia.”
Meanwhile, Patra has invited flak for his statement with Jagannath devotees demanding an apology from Patra.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik condemned Patra vehemently for hurting the sentiment of Lord Jagannath devotees across the globe.
Taking to his X handle, Patnaik wrote: “Mahaprabhu Shree Jagannatha is the Lord of Universe. Calling Mahaprabhu a bhakt of another human being is an insult to the Lord. This has hurt the sentiments and demeaned the faith of crores of Jagannatha bhaktas and Odias across the world. The Lord is the greatest Symbol of Odia Asmita. Calling Mahaprabhu a bhakt of another human being is totally condemnable. I strongly denounce the statement made by the BJP Puri Lok Sabha candidate and I appeal to the BJP to keep the Lord above any political discourse. By this you have deeply hurt Odia Asmita and this will be remembered and condemned by people of Odisha for a very long time.”
Terming it a slip tongue, Patra urged the Odisha CM not to make it an issue out of non-existent.
Patra, in his reply, wrote: “Naveen Ji Namaskar! I gave number of bytes today to multiple media channels after the massive success of Shri Narendra Modiji’s Road Show in Puri today, everywhere I mentioned that Modi ji is an ardent “Bhakt” of Shri Jagannath Mahaprabhu ..by mistake during one of the bytes I pronounced just the opposite ..I know you too know and understand this ..Sir let’s not make an issue out of a nonexistent issue ..we all have “slip of the tongue sometimes. Thanks and Pranam!”
