The national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Sambit Patra sparked a controversy after referring to Lord Jagannath as a devotee of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The statement that Patra made while taking to the media in Odia triggered a swift and strong backlash, particularly from the Odisha Congress unit.
Taking to the microblogging site X, Odisha Congress condemned Patra’s statement. Describing the comment as derogatory and disrespectful, the party demanded that Patra ‘apologise with folded hands in front of the national media’ to every citizen of Odisha.
“According to Sambit Patra – “Modi’s bhakt is Jagannath”.. It’s a direct attack on Odia Asmita…… We want Sambit to apologise with folded hands in front of the National Media and Each and every citizen of Odisha. It’s very derogatory… You should mind your language,” the party wrote.
Kerala unit congress also lashed out at Patra for his remarks.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Odisha prayed at Odisha’s Lord Jagannath Temple (Lord Srijagannath in Puri).
Taking to X, he wrote, “I prayed to Lord Srijagannath in Puri. May his blessings always be upon us and guide us to reach new heights of progress.”
Amid uproar over his words, Patra took to X and said he spoke to multiple media channels after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s roadshow in Puri where he mentioned that “Modi ji is an ardent Bhakt of Shri Jagannath Mahaprabhu .. by mistake during one of the bytes I pronounced just the opposite (sic)”.
“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”,” Patra said in response to a post by Patnaik.
But the opposition parties latched on to the remarks, denouncing them as an “insult” to Lord Jagannath.
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