Kolkata: The city’s Rath Yatra festival organised by ISKCON Kolkata Centre will be held inside their temple. However, there won’t be any devotees, an ISKCON spokesperson said Wednesday. The unprecedented decision was taken in view of the COVID-19 outbreak. It has infected more than 11,000 people in West Bengal.
Indoor celebrations
“ISKCON Kolkata has decided to do all Rath Yatra celebrations inside our campus only. We will not allow any devotees,” ISKCON-Kolkata Centre vice-president and spokesperson Radharaman Das said Wednesday.
The Rathyatra begins June 23. Last year more than 10 lakh devotees attended the nine-day ISKCON festival in total, informed Das.
Danger of COVID-19
“It seems that the danger of COVID-19 has only increased and not subsided at all. It will be risky to celebrate Rath Yatra in the open with large people gathering to pull the chariots. It’s practically impossible to do it while maintaining the social distancing,” Das said. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had flagged off the festival last year.
The ISKCON spokesperson said they have informed the West Bengal government about their decision. He further said most of the ISKCON devotees are engaged in relief work of COVID-19 and Cyclone ‘Amphan’.
Relief work
“We are distributing food for last 70 days during the COVID-19 crisis. After ‘Amphan’, relief work has increased. Many of our devotees are engaged in that. They are in different villages doing the relief work. So we have a shortage of manpower too this time,” stated Das.
Temporary Gundicha Mandir
The Kolkata Rath Yatra by ISKCON began in 1972. This would have been their 49th year. However, for the first time there would be no chariots that are pulled to their destination Gundicha Mandir.
“We will make a temporary Gundicha Mandir inside our temple (on Gurusaday Road). The deities will be taken there in a low-key celebration,” he said.
