There has been an uproar over offering boiled rice to the Lord in the Jagannath temple located in Odisha. Its hallmark was seen in the Odisha Assembly on Wednesday.
Members of the opposition party BJP created a lot of ruckus. Due to this, the proceedings of the House were disrupted for several hours.
BJP members alleged that ‘boiled’ rice was being mixed in the offerings to Lord Jagannath in the Puri temple, breaking ancient traditions.
On this issue, BJP MLAs sought answers from Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and said that this step has hurt the religious sentiments of lakhs of devotees.
BJP MLAs alleged that ‘boiled’ rice was found in rice collected through Arpan Rath in various villages of Odisha during the inauguration of the Shri Jagannath Parikrama Prakalpa or Heritage Corridor project, which was offered to Lord Jagannath.
Traditionally ‘boiled’ rice is not used in offerings to the Lord.
As soon as the assembly proceedings began on Wednesday, BJP MLAs came in front of the Speaker’s podium and started creating ruckus with placards in their hands.
He also demanded a statement from the Chief Minister on this matter. Seeing the uproar in the House, Assembly Speaker Pramila Malik adjourned the proceedings of the House till 11.30 am. Later the proceedings were adjourned till 4 pm.
Even when the House proceedings started at 4 pm, BJP members came in front of the chair and started raising slogans demanding a statement from the Chief Minister. Many protesting members also tried to go closer to the pedestal but the marshal stopped them. During this, the MLAs snatched the mike from the Assembly Speaker.
Seeing the huge uproar in the House, the Speaker again adjourned the proceedings for an hour. Members of both Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and BJP parties kept making loud noise for some time.
After the proceedings were adjourned, BJP members demonstrated outside the House.