Gujarat Police on toes ahead of Jagannath Yatra

Gujarat Police are on their toes to ensure a peaceful and smooth passage of Lord Jagannath Rath Yatra, coming back Friday after a gap of two years due to Covid-19.

Senior officials said 25,000 policemen have been deployed in addition to central armed paramilitary forces. The annual Rath Yatra said to be second-biggest after Puri in Odisha, passes through several communally sensitive localities of the walled city of Ahmedabad. In the past, several communal instances have occurred during the religious procession.

Eighteen elephants, over 100 trucks, akhadas and devotees will be part of the procession covering nearly 15 km distance while passing through Karanj, Madhavpura, Shaherkotda, Khadia, Shahpur, Gaikwad Haveli, Kalupur and Dariapur police stations. Local police estimate that one to two lakh devotees will line up the route to welcome the yatra. The chariots of Lord Jagannath, his brother Balbhadra and sister Subhadra will be pulled by the Khalis community as per tradition. Union Minister Amit Shah will also perform "mangala aarti" early Friday morning.

Police officials said that due to the brutal killing of a tailor in Udaipur, about 250 km from Ahmedabad, in the neighbouring Rajasthan, vigilance has been increased.

Meanwhile, following intervention of Muslim leaders, the timing of Friday namaaz (prayer) has been advanced from usual 1:30 PM to 1:45 PM to 12:50 PM to 1:15 PM. Aziz Gandhi, a member of a peace committee, said considering the timing of the procession, community leaders voluntarily decided to change the timing to welcome the procession.

Earlier, the local police took several measures to bring Hindu and Muslim communities closer by holding friendly cricket matches, blood donation camps and cultural events.