00:00 "Sambit Patra hai hai, Sambit Patra chhi chhi, Haridwar Modi chhi"
00:08 Sambit Patra, the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from the Puri Lok Sabha seat in Odisha,
00:13 sparked controversy by declaring that Lord Jagannath is Modi Bhakt
00:18 after attending a roadshow with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Puri.
00:23 The statement triggered widespread outrage across social media.
00:27 Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik of the Biju Janata Dal swiftly responded,
00:31 condemning the statement as an insult to Lord Jagannath, a revered deity in Odisha.
00:38 Patnaik emphasised that calling the Lord a devotee of a human being is tarnishing
00:42 the sentiment and faith of millions of Jagannath Bhakts worldwide.
00:47 He highlighted the Lord's symbolic importance in Odia culture,
00:51 urging the BJP to prioritise reverence for the deity over the political rhetoric.
00:57 Even the Congress Party echoed Patnaik's sentiment, urging Patra to apologise for his remark.
01:03 The party even protested on the street over the remark.
01:06 "Sambit Patra hai hai, Sambit Patra chhi chhi, Haridwar Modi chhi"
01:17 Even Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party condemned the statement as an expression of arrogance,
01:22 asserting that deeming a deity a devotee of a political figure amounted to disrespect towards God.
01:29 Amid the backlash, Patra also issued a video apologising,
01:33 attributing his comments to a momentary lapse amid the scorching heat.
01:38 "When a channel took a bite in the middle of the night,
01:41 it was very crowded, it was very hot, it was very hot, it was very noisy.
01:46 Unknowingly, while giving the bite, I said the opposite of what I said,
01:53 that the devotees of Modi ji are great.
01:57 This can never be possible.
02:00 No person can ever say in his right condition that a person's devotee is God.
02:10 So, this mistake was made unknowingly while giving a bite to a channel.
02:16 I believe that some people must have been affected by this.
02:22 But even God forgives the mistakes made unknowingly.
02:26 My intention was not that at all.
02:29 But still, since Mahaprabhu is for all of us, the people of Odiya,
02:35 and not just for Odisha,
02:38 I am a devotee of Him for the whole of India and the world.
02:42 He is the greatest deity.
02:45 So, naturally, I feel that even for a slip of tongue,
02:51 I should apologise to Mahaprabhu.
02:55 And I have decided that I will fast for it.
03:00 Bhatt Rai even stated that he will commence a three-day fast for his grave mistake
03:04 and he will not do that slip of tongue again.
03:08 For the unaware, the BJP has been using Odiya Asmita as a pole plank in this election.
03:14 However, this one statement may dent hard BJP in the upcoming polls, at least in Odisha.
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