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Lord Jagannath is Modi’s bhakt: A ‘slip of tongue’ lands BJP in a spot
The BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate from Puri, Sambit Patra, sparked outrage in the state Monday after he told a local TV channel that “Lord Jagannath is Modi’s bhakt”. He later described it as a “slip of the tongue”.
Earlier in the day, Patra had joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a roadshow in Puri.
After this, during an interaction with Kanak News channel, Patra said, “Modinkara bhakta Jagannath; au ame Sabu hauchu Modinka parivarjana (Lord Jagannath is Modi’s bhakt, and we all are members of Modi’s family). I can’t control my emotions after witnessing such incredible moments. I feel it’s a special day for all Odias.”
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik condemned the remarks. Taking to X, he wrote: “Calling Mahaprabhu (Lord Jagannath) a bhakt of a 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 (pride). Calling Mahaprabhu a bhakt of another human being is totally condemnable.”
‘Odia asmita’ has been the plank used by the BJP to target Patnaik’s BJD, and particularly the role of the CM’s close aide and BJD’s chief election strategist V K Pandian, who is from Tamil Nadu.
“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,” Patnaik said in the post.
The Congress also demanded an apology from Patra, and accused him of doing politics in the name of Lord Jagannath.
Patra later responded to Patnaik’s post on X and sought to clarify his stand.
“I gave a number of bytes today to multiple media channels after the massive success of Shri Narendra Modiji’s roadshow 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 said 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 a slip of tongue sometimes,” he wrote.
Also responding to Patnaik’s post, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal criticised the BJP, saying, “They have started thinking that they are above God. This is the height of arrogance. Calling God a bhakt of Modi ji is an insult to God.”
Source: ‘Lord Jagannath is Modi’s bhakt’: A ‘slip of tongue’ lands BJP in a spot