BHUBANESWAR:
Animal rights activists in Orissa are up in arms against state Revenue
Minister and senior BJP leader Manmohan Samal for his reported presence
in a temple in his home district where more than 600 goats and lambs
were sacrificed on Saturday and Sunday on the occasion of ‘Chaitra
Ekadasi’.
Mr. Samal,
who was present at the Rakshya Kali temple in Rameswarpur village under
Dhamanagar block of Bhadrak district during the annual event, reportedly
flagged off the ritual by offering the first animal, a goat.
Animal
rights activists on Monday burnt effigies of Mr Samal. “We strongly
condemn the minister’s action,” said Jeevan Das, the state representative
of People For Animal.
Animal
rights activists in Orissa have been campaigning against the age-old
practice in temples and shrines. They were successful in stopping
the ritual at some temples
According
to Mr. Das, the minister took part in the ritual despite a high court
order against the brutal practice. Responding to a public interest
litigation filed by animal rights activists last year, the Orissa High
Court had ordered the state government to direct all district collectors
to take possible steps to stop animal sacrifice in temples and shrines.
‘Condemnable’
“Being
the revenue minister, Mr. Samal should have been directing the district
collectors to stop the practice. Instead, he himself took part
in such a ritual which is highly condemnable,” said Mr. Das.
The development
has also provided an opportunity to Mr. Samal’s political opponents to score a point against him. “The ministers presence during
the animal sacrifice ritual is unfortunate,” said J B Patnaik,
senior Congress member and leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.
Mr. Samal,
a former president of BJP’s Orissa unit denied that he was present
during the ritual though he had visited the north Orissa temple on Saturday.
“The temple is located in my constituency and like every year,
this time too I paid a visit to the shrine. But I was not present at
the time of the animal sacrifice,” the senior minister told reporters.
|