Bulldozer leads rath yatra in Rajkot: To unite Hindus, protect Sanatan Dharma, say organisers
A banner reading ‘Sanatani bulldozer’ was tied to the loading bucket of the machine as it led the rath yatra taken out by the Jagannath temple in the Nana Mava area of Rajkot.
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More than 400 structures, some of them belonging to the minority community, were razed in the Jakhau port in the Kutch district last year. (EXPRESS Photo) A bulldozer with a banner reading ‘Sanatani bulldozer’ tied to its loading bucket led a rath yatra taken out by the Jagannath temple in the Nana Mava area of Rajkot Tuesday.
The organisers said the bulldozer was included in the religious parade “to protect Sanatan Dharma”.
Former chief minister Vijay Rupani performed pooja of deities in the temple before the yatra started from the temple on posh Nana Mava Road of the city at 9:30 am. In the religious procession, idols of lord Jagannath or Lord Krishna, his brother Balbhadra and sister Subhadra are placed in chariots and taken around the city,
The rath yatra in Rajkot is scheduled to pass through the main roads of Rajkot for 26 km before culminating at the Jagannath temple later in the evening.
At noon, the yatra passed through the Raiya Road and was scheduled to stop at Swaminarayan temple on Bhupendra Road for lunch.
“In this special rath yatra, there is a Sanatani bulldozer. The significance and objective of the bulldozer are to protect and promote Sanatan Dharma,” Manmohandas, the head priest at Jagannath temple in Rajkot, told media persons after the procession began.
Bulldozer has become a symbol of demolitions, especially of homes and establishments belonging to the minority Muslim community after the BJP government of Yogi Adityanath in Uttar Pradesh started using them for such tasks during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in 2019, terming houses unauthorised.
A few other BJP-ruled states, including Madhya Pradesh, have copied Uttar Pradesh in razing houses of those booked in criminal cases.
The Gujarat government has also used such machines for razing hundreds of houses and other structures, most of them belonging to minority communities in the Bet Dwarka island and Gandhvi fishing harbour in Devbhumi Dwarka recently.
More than 400 structures, some of them belonging to the minority community, were razed in the Jakhau port in the Kutch district last year.
Raju Junja, a local BJP worker among the leading volunteers for organising the rath yatra of Jagannath temple, said the bulldozer was included in the cavalcade to send a message of unity.
“This year, a ‘Sanatani bulldozer’ joined the rath yatra. Hindus are divided into various sects, and to send them a message of uniting under one umbrella, we have included a bulldozer in the yatra this time round,” Junja told media persons.
Rupani, a resident of Rajkot, said that the city is known for celebrating festivals enthusiastically and that there will be processions during the upcoming festival of Janmashtami.
“One gets glimpses of unity among Hindus and the manifestation of Sanatan Dharma through all these events,” said Rupani.
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