Devotees from Ukraine and Russia, two countries engaged in a war, jointly inaugurated the 'Ulta Rath Yatra' or the return car festival of Lord Jagannath organized by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in Kolkata on Saturday, sending a message of peace and non-violence.

They are among thousands of devotees, including 600 foreigners from 150 countries across the world, who took part in the ‘Ulta Rath’ procession that started from Kolkata Maidan adjacent to Park Street-Outram Road and ended at the Radha Krishna temple on Albert Road.

Vice-President of ISKCON Kolkata, Radharaman Das, told PTI that 20 Russian and 10 Ukrainian devotees inaugurated the return journey of the sibling deities Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath. "Instead of fighting each other, everyone should live in harmony, in peace. That is the message of Sri Krishna, that is the message of Lord Jagannath. This Rath Yatra is a perfect example.?

“The devotees of Russia and Ukraine along with other nationalities cooked ‘bhog’ for Lord Jagannath. They danced and sang together holding hands in front of the Lord," Das said. At Mayapur in Nadia district, the global headquarters of ISKCON, around 25,000 devotees, including foreign nationals from 90 countries, took part in the festival.?ISKCON Mayapur spokesperson Subrata Saha said, "The celebrations are reminiscent of 2019 and earlier days. Considering the spike in Covid-19 cases, we repeatedly urged the devotees to wear masks and our volunteers also asked them to follow the Covid safety protocols."

The festival was not held with public participation in the past two years due to the pandemic situation. Around 20,000 people turned up at Mahesh in Hooghly district to pull the famous chariot there. However, most of them did not wear masks ignoring the repeated requests of the organizers. Chariots were taken out in many other parts of Kolkata by various organizations. Children took out small chariots across the state.?