All 4 Gates of Puri Jagannath Temple Reopened as Promised by BJP

Puri: In line with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s manifesto, all four gates of the Puri Jagannath Temple were reopened to devotees on Thursday. This significant event took place during the Mangala Alati in the presence of the Council of Ministers.

The gates were initially closed during the Covid-19 pandemic. Post-pandemic, only the Singhadwara (Lion Gate) was reopened, while the Ashwa Dwara (Horse Gate), Vyaghra Dwara (Tiger Gate), and Hasti Dwara (Elephant Gate) remained shut. This partial reopening led to overcrowding and long queues at the Singhadwara, prompting devotees to call for the reopening of all gates.

Reopening all four gates was a major pre-election promise made by the BJP. Just hours after taking his oath as the new Chief Minister of Odisha, Mohan Majhi chaired the first cabinet meeting and made four crucial decisions, including the reopening of the temple gates.

Chief Minister Majhi, detailing the decisions of the first cabinet meeting, stated, “Taking into account various problems and the issue of ‘Asmita’ of Odia people, four major decisions have been made. Considering the huge rush and inconvenience caused to the large number of devotees at Puri Srimandir, it has been decided that all four dwaras (gates) of Puri Srimandir will be opened during the Mangala Alati tomorrow (Thursday) in the presence of the Council of Ministers, as mentioned in the BJP’s election manifesto.”

Further addressing the temple’s needs, CM Majhi announced a corpus fund of Rs 500 crore for the management, repair, and beautification of the Srimandir, highlighting the previous lack of proper funding for these purposes.