Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, April 24, 2015 :

Government officials are calling the shots and entirely controlling the reign of administration in Odisha. This general impression among the people in the know of things has further been reinforced with the Shankaracharya of Govardhan Peeth Swami Nischalananda Saraswati making a remark in this regard recently.

“It appears that the state government is run by the secretaries,” Shankaracharya told reporters on the sidelines of a function in Jajpur district recently.

The Shankaracharya lamented that he was not consulted by the Sri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) headed by a senior IAS officer in the wake of the ongoing preparation for the famous Nabalakebara festival of Lord Jagannath.

Expressing his anguish for not being “consulted” by the Odisha Government, the Seer said, “No one from the administration has consulted me or sought any suggestion (margdarshan) from me so far. Members of the Mukti Mandap (the highest decision making body in Jagannath temple) and Gajapati Maharaja, however, pay courtesy visits to me.”

He asserted that the trinity in the 12th century Jagannath Temple is deities of Govardhan Peeth. “It is clear violation of rights of the Peeth, founded by Adi Guru Shankaracharya, who had set all the rituals of the Sri Jagannath Temple,” he said.

Referring to last year’s Rath Jatra, Shankaracharya said that he was restricted by the administration while going to perform a ritual before pulling of the chariots. He had refrained from performing the ritual in protest, sparking a statewide resentment over the SJTA’s action.