Will fast for next 3 days to atone for mistake: Sambit Patra for calling Lord Jagannath Modi's bhakt
On May 20, Sambit Patra had made a major gaffe by claiming that Lord Jagannath is a devotee of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Patra later said it was a 'slip of the tongue'
BJP leader Sambit Patra, who is the saffron party’s Lok Sabha candidate in Puri, has promised to undertake penance by observing a fast for three days from May 21 for his 'slip of the tongue' comment on Lord Jagannath.
In an interview on a local television channel on May 20, Patra had made a major gaffe by stating that Lord Jagannath is a devotee of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Later, the BJP leader clarified that it was 'a slip of the tongue' and he had actually wanted to say that PM was an ardent 'bhakt' (devotee) of Lord Jagannath and not the other way around.
Claiming that he regretted his statement, Patra posted on X, "For this mistake, I apologise at the feet of Lord Sri Jagannath. I will fast for the next three days to atone for this mistake."
However, he also clarified that while talking to the media during Modi's roadshow in Puri, he mistakenly said 'Modi's Bhakt Jagannath' instead of 'Maha Prabhu Sri Jagannath's Bhakt Modi'.
Keep Lord Jagannath out of political discourse
Meanwhile, Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik waded into the controversy condeming the statement and appealed to the BJP to keep Lord Jagannath out of the political discourse in the country.
In an X post, Patnaik wrote, “Mahaprabhu Shree Jagannatha is the Lord of the Universe. Calling Mahaprabhu a 'bhakt' of another human being is an insult to the Lord... it is totally condemnable."
According to Patnaik, 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. I strongly denounce the statement... 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,” he further added.
Arvind Kejriwal also criticised the BJP for this statement. In a post on X, Kejriwal said that the BJP has started thinking that they are above God. Terming it as a "height of arrogance", he said that calling God a bhakt of Modi ji is an insult to God.