Priests performing rituals at Jagannath Temple on the occasion of Rath Yatra, in Ranchi. (ANI Photo)
RANCHI: The district administration had a tough time keeping the devotees away from the Jagannath temple in Dhurwa on Monday on the occasion of Rath Yatra though the state government had suspended processions and allowed only customary rituals to be conducted behind closed doors.
Chief minister Hemant Soren and his wife Kalpana Soren visited the temple but they did not step inside and prayed from outside the Dol Mandap, where the deities are kept. Praveer Shahdeo, a descendent of the temple’s founder Ane Nath Shahdeo, said, “We had invited the CM today as he visits the temple every year during the Rath Yatra.”