Lord Jagannath's rath yatra passes off peacefully

The 139th edition of Lord Jagannath rath yatra passed off peacefully in the city today amid tight security arrangements with lakhs of devotees thronging to catch a glimpse of the deity and even people from minority community giving a warm welcome to the procession.
The chariots of Lord Jagannath, his elder brother Balbhadra and their sister Subhadra commenced their journey this morning on the 15 kilometer route here after Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel performed 'Pahind Vidhi'- a symbolic ritual of cleaning way for the Raths, at 400-year-old Jagannath temple in Jamalpur area.
BJP chief Amit Shah also visited the temple at around 4 am and took part in the 'Mangla Aarti'.

The procession that stretches up to 1.5 km, comprised 18 decorated elephants, 101 trucks, around 30 religious congregations and around 20 singing troupes followed by three chariots.
The rath yatra moved through some communally sensitive areas like Jamalpur, Kalupur, Shahpur and Dariyapur throughout the day and finally came back to the temple late evening after almost 12 hours.
Displaying the spirit of brotherhood and communal harmony, minority community welcomed the chariots on various points of the city in Muslim dominated areas with garlands and other offerings. Hindu devotees also greeted Muslims on the occasion of Eid.

As part of the tradition, chief priest of the Jagannath temple Dilipdasji Maharaj was offered a shawl at Dariyapur by local Muslim leaders. In return, the mahant, who is equally revered by local Muslims, gave a donation of Rs 3,100 for a local mosque in Dariyapur.

"This tradition was set by the very first mahant of Jagannath temple as a mark of brotherhood and harmony. Today, Dilipdasji gave us Rs 3,100 as his donation to the local mosque, while we greeted him with a shawl, a practice followed by almost five generations of this area," local corporator of Dariyapur, Hasan Pathan, said.
This time, a tableaux featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi caught everyone's attention, as the entire truck was covered with life-size photos of Modi shaking hands with various heads of state, including Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and many others.

Elaborate security arrangements were made by police to avoid any untoward incident during the yatra.
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The entire route was monitored by police through a
network of CCTV cameras, connected with two control rooms, one in the city and another in Gandhinagar.
Nine IG and DIG level officers, 33 Superintendents of Police (SPs), 81 Deputy SPs, 250 Police Inspectors, 900 Police Sub Inspectors, 8,000 constables, 5,600 homeguards and 1,500 recruits undergoing training were deployed during the rath yatra.
Outgoing RBI governor Raghuram Rajan also found his fan following in the yatra. A youth, who was part of the procession, bid Rajan farewell in advance by painting a message on his body, which read "Raghuram Rajan, one of the wise RBI governors, we will miss you".

The same youth, though his body painting, also expressed disappointment over the issue of non-payment of loans by beleaguered businessman Vijay Mallya.
Political parties made their presence felt through posters and banners put up on route of the rath yatra.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had put up a stall at Jamalpur locality, where its volunteers were seen distributing water and prasad to devotees during the procession.
Along the route, banners from local leaders from BJP, Congress and NCP were seen welcoming devotees.
One Kalubhai Rawal, a septuagenarian in traditional Rajasthani outfit with red turban, led the procession for some distance on his bicycle.

Rawal plans to cover the country on his cycle and spread the messages of "Clean India" and "Save Girl Child," which were also the theme of several other tableau, banners and stalls that were seen during the procession.