Bhubaneswar, Aug 1 (PTI) BJD leader S R Patnaik on Thursday strongly opposed a proposal by the ISKCON Ludhiana unit to organise the annual Rath Jatra on a different date, and urged the Odisha chief minister to take up the matter with his Punjab counterpart.

The issue was raised by Patnaik in the assembly, who cited reports that the International Society for Krishna Consciousness's (ISKCON) Ludhiana unit was planning to hold Lord Jagannath's annual Rath Jatra on November 16.

The festival is usually observed on the second day of 'sukla pakshya' in the month of 'Asadha', as per the Hindu calendar.

"Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik should take up the matter with his Punjab counterpart and ensure that ISKCON is not allowed to conduct Lord Jagannth's Rath Jatra in November," he said.

"People of Odisha may revolt against ISKCON if they... hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus," Patnaik alleged. PTI

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)