Ahmedabad:
The Lord Jagannath Rath Yatra, began this morning from the 400-year-old Jagannath temple in Jamalpur area, amidst tight security arrangements.
As per tradition, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, performed the '
Pahind Vidhi' of Rath Yatra (symbolic path cleaning on chariot of Lord Jagannath) after which the annual rath yatra of Lord Jagannath, Lord Baldev and their sister Devi Subhadra began here.
State Chief Minister also pulled the chariot of Lord Jagannath out of the temple premises, an age old tradition here.
"After Puri, Ahmedabad's rathyatra in the country and world has turned out to be centre of attraction. Thousands of saints arrive in Gujarat to participate in this rath yatra," Modi told reporters.
"I pray to Lord Jagannath that Gujarat which has been successful in attaining new heights of development with peace, unity and
sadhbhavana should prosper and progress more with the lord's blessing," he said.
"On the occassion of Rath Yatra, I pray at Lord's feet that even this year the rains should be good during the monsoon," Modi said.
The 14-km route of the procession will pass through communally sensitive localities in the city like Kalupur, Prem Darwaja, Delhi Chakla, Dariyapur and Shahpur, amidst robust security arrangements.
Elaborate security arrangements have been made for the 135th Rath Yatra. Around 20,000 policemen including homeguards, SRPs and para-military will be deployed on the entire 14-KM yatra route along with other security arrangements. For the first time GPS and hidden cameras will be used by the police.