The festival, however, will be different this time as the number of pilgrims and devotees would be cut down considerably after the recent floods played spoilsport and snapped transport lines connecting West Bengal and Orissa
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has announced a 60-day mass outreach program targeting Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe-majority assembly constituencies in West Bengal, accusing the BJP of depriving the state of funds and disrespecting marginalized communities.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has resorted to a rath yatra to press for a separate Vidarbha state. For a change, the party does not want to make it an emotional issue like the Ram temple but reach out to the people of 11 districts.Party legislator from Vidarbha, Sudhir Mungantiwar, a frontrunner to take over from Nitin Gadkari as the president of the Maharashtra unit of the party, and Devendra Phadanvis, a confidante of Gadkari, would begin the 'yatra' from Friday.
The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) said it will set up an exclusive healthcare centre for the families of servitors. Ahead of the Rath Yatra, a massive sample collection exercise was conducted on Monday night and one servitor had tested positive, Chief Secretary A K Tripathy said.
Bihar is no stranger to being at the centre of a tectonic shift in national politics fuelled by turbulent regional forces.
The name rath yatra may give you the impression that L K Advani is going to undertake an all-land march. Until you learn about the list of flights the Bharatiya Janata Party veteran would use as part of his nation-wide trip against corruption starting next week.
Through the yatra the UP CM would try to send the message that he was in the driver's seat, notwithstanding all the hue and cry within the party.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and other dignitaries greeted the people on Lord Jagannath's annual car festival.
Around 10 lakh people are expected to gather for the festival in the temple town from across the country, and some foreign nations, director of health service Bijay Mohapatra said.
With Diwali failing to thaw strained ties in the Mulayam clan, a show of strength is on the cards as Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav takes out his 'Rath Yatra' on November 3, two days before ruling SP's silver jubilee show organised by his uncle Shivpal Yadav.
From religious gatherings to public events, 2025 witnessed a series of stampedes and crowd-related incidents that exposed the fragile line between mass participation and human tragedy, leaving behind loss, questions, and urgent lessons on crowd safety.
The division bench said the order needs to consider afresh the 36 intelligence inputs submitted by the state government before the single bench.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami criticised the Trinamool Congress' governance in West Bengal, citing issues such as increased infiltration, corruption, and atrocities against women during a rally in Hingalganj.
Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani and his family members on Saturday attended the Rath Yatra in Puri and offered prayers. Accompanied by wife Priti, son Karan and other family members, Adani paid obeisance to Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath, by standing in front of their chariots near Gundicha Temple, considered the deities' aunt's house.
Union Minister Giriraj Singh has accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of appeasing Muslims and protecting infiltrators, while the BJP promises to bring 'Ram Rajya' to the state if elected.
An apex court bench headed by Justice S K Kaul also asked the BJP state unit to submit a revised plan for its "Save Democracy Rally" for consideration by the state government.
The CM appointed Khurda district collector Chanchal Rana as the new collector of Puri.
In a letter to his father and party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, the chief minister declared his intention to commence his yatra, which was put off last month after the open turf war with his uncle Shivpal Yadav.
The Congress party has distanced itself from Shashi Tharoor's remarks praising BJP leader L.K. Advani, stating that Tharoor speaks for himself and that his continued membership in the CWC reflects the party's democratic spirit.
The Odisha government is working to secure copyright for the rituals of Lord Jagannath temple in Puri to protect its traditional cultural expressions, following concerns over untimely celebrations by ISKCON and the declaration of a temple in Digha as 'Jagannath Dham'.
Built on around 24 acres of land using red sandstone quarried from Bansi Paharpur in Rajasthan, the Jagannath Temple at Digha, also known as Jagannath Dham, is an "architectural marvel, a mixture of intricate carvings and traditional design," an official said.
"This entire period is highly sensitive in terms of law and order, healthcare, sanitation, education, and disaster management. Hence, all related departments and district administrations must work with coordination and accountability," Adityanath said, according to an official statement.
The Shree Jagannath Temple Managing Committee (SJTMC) has formed a sub-committee, headed by former Lt Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Girish Chandra Murmu, to suggest measures to ensure full protection of the temple in light of recent security breaches.
During the Rath Yatra, Lord Jagannath, his elder brother Balabhadra and younger sister Subhadra are carried from their home temple to another temple, located in what is believed to be their aunt's home.
The party approached the Supreme Court seeking permission to hold the campaign 'Save Democracy Rally', which would cover 42 parliamentary constituencies in the state ahead of the 2019 general elections.
Odisha's and Telangana's principal opposition parties, the Biju Janata Dal and the Bharatiya Rashtra Samithi, on Monday announced that their MPs will abstain from voting in the vice presidential elections.
A profile of C.P. Radhakrishnan, the Maharashtra Governor and former MP, who is being considered as a potential Vice President candidate. His political journey, association with RSS and Jan Sangh, and his influence in Tamil Nadu politics are highlighted.
The widespread support of people from all walks of life was evident on the second day of Bharatiya Janta Party leader L K Advani's Jan Chetna Yatra. After Chief Minister Nitish Kumar flagged off the yatra at Chhapra on Tuesday, Advani has covered a distance of about 80 km of his 7600-km long yatra. On Wednesday, the 84-year-old leader addressed the crowd at Gandhi Maidan in Patna, with the acumen characteristic of a veteran of six national yatras.
Several lakhs of devotees across the country and abroad will throng the holy town to participate in the annual Rath Yatra.
Chandrapuram Ponnusamy Radhakrishnan, with strong roots in the RSS and BJP, has been elected as the 15th Vice President of India. His rich political and administrative experience will be valuable as the Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha.
Andhra Pradesh police identified one of the terror suspects arrested by Tamil Nadu police as a 'big fish' with advanced bomb-making skills. The suspect, Abubacker Siddique, is believed to be a lone wolf influenced by radical preacher Zakir Naik and an expert in making IEDs.
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said he had directed the state Advocate General to approach the high court and request it to allow the annual procession. The HC had on Saturday stayed the procession in the light of coronavirus pandemic in Ahmedabad.
With only around 100 days away from the Lok Sabha polls, senior BJP leader L K Advani has used his Urdu website to reach out to Muslims to say he is in no way related to the Babri Masjid demolition.
The controversy erupted after a purported video, in which Bhubaneswar Additional Police Commissioner Narasingha Bhol was seen instructing police personnel to "break their legs and take reward from me" during a Congress workers' protest, went viral.
Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar on Wednesday claimed the Bharatiya Janata Party's 1990 rath yatra was for seeking "satta (power)", but the Congress's 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' is for "satya (truth)".
Banerjee, who was flanked by newly-elected MP Nusrat Jahan and her husband Nikhil Jain, said, "Togetherness and tolerance for all faiths is the real religion."
A woman was killed and three others were on Tuesday injured in a stampede during pulling of Ratha Yatra chariots from the Sri Jagannath temple in Puri, Orissa, in which hundreds of thousand people took part.
The Jagannath temple has fostered Odisha's regional cooking styles and preserved local food traditions.
The Supreme Court of India has dismissed the bail plea of former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in a 1990 custodial death case. The court ruled that there was no merit in his plea for bail or suspension of sentence. Bhatt, along with co-accused Pravinsinh Zala, was found guilty of murder, voluntarily causing hurt, and criminal intimidation by the Gujarat High Court in 2024. The case stems from the death of Prabhudas Vaishnani, who was detained by Bhatt following a communal riot in Jamjodhpur in 1990. Vaishnani's brother alleged that Bhatt and other police officers tortured him in custody, leading to his death.
Destiny had decided that a grand temple of Lord Ram will be built in Ayodhya and it chose Prime Minister Narendra Modi for this, BJP stalwart L K Advani has said in an article to be published in a special edition of the Rashtra Dharma magazine next week.
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