By Manoj Kar
Paradip(Odisha), July 4: In a show of communal amity, non-Hindus joined hands with Hindu devotees to observe the annual Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath in Paradip Port town on Friday.

Car festival of the Lord got off to a colourful start here with religious fervour. But the major highlight of the annual festival is that Muslims and Christians rubbed shoulders with Hindus to pull the strings of the chariot.

The bustling port town lays claim to fame for tolerant religious practices among adherents of divergent religions. The Rath Yatra bears testimony to the communal amity prevailing in this region, quipped Baishnab Mohanty, a trustee member of local Jagannath temple.

Muslims and Christians of the port town to pulled the strings of chariot carrying Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra.

The non-Hindu devotees who take active part in the festival are mostly the employees of Paradip Port Trust. This year was no exception. Many of them converged at the Madhuban and offered prasad to the deity. Unlike elsewhere, the non-Hindus are conferred the rights to offer puja at the Lord and pull the rath here, Mohanty told.

In fact, the gates of the Jagannath temple have been thrown open to Muslims and followers of other religions since temple came up here in early Seventies.

At a time when frenzied religious intolerance and fanaticism is the order of the day, followers of divergent religious groups have unrestrained access into the temple for darshan.

The 60-foot tall ‘Aruna Stambha' (the holy pillar erected near the temple entry gate for distant view of God) speaks the story itself. A concrete arch adorns the top of the pious pillar with the engraving of holy symbols of major religions like Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and Sikhism.

The temple is comparatively new and is bereft of architectural design. There does not exist any sort of restriction nor inhibition for non-Hindus including Muslims to visit the temple since the day of its building in 1972, according to state endowment commission office sources.

After the port civil township came up in late sixties, some employees of the port trust volunteered to build the temple. With generous donation of all employees of the port trust, the temple was built in 1972. The donors then also included employees who were from minority communities.