Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Thursday performed the traditional Mangala Aarti and offered prayers to Lord Jagannath at the historic Shree Jagannath Mandir in Ahmedabad’s Jamalpur area, marking the commencement of the city’s 149th annual Jagannath Rath Yatra.
The ritual is among the first ceremonies of Rath Yatra day and precedes the departure of the three chariots carrying the idols of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra.
Thousands of devotees assembled at the temple to witness the religious ceremonies before the procession began. Senior state government officials, temple authorities and police personnel were also present as the final preparations for the yatra concluded.
Held annually on Ashadhi Bij, the Jagannath Rath Yatra begins from the nearly 400-year-old Shree Jagannathji Mandir in Jamalpur and passes through several parts of Ahmedabad before returning to the temple later in the day.
The Ahmedabad Rath Yatra is regarded as the second-largest Jagannath procession in the country after the annual Rath Yatra in Puri and draws lakhs of devotees from Gujarat and other parts of India each year.
Shah has regularly participated in the temple’s Mangala Aarti ahead of the procession, continuing a long-standing tradition of offering prayers before the yatra begins.
This year’s procession is being conducted under extensive security arrangements. Gujarat Police have deployed more than 31,000 personnel along the 16-km route, supported by drones, artificial intelligence-enabled surveillance systems, thousands of CCTV cameras and body-worn cameras for real-time monitoring.
Civic authorities have also put in place elaborate arrangements for crowd management, sanitation, medical assistance and emergency response to ensure the smooth conduct of one of Gujarat’s most significant annual religious events.
(With inputs from IANS)
