Puri priests protest Dhoni’s Vishnu avatar

Some priests of the Jagannath temple in Puri demonstrated in front of the 12th century shrine on Tuesday against cricketer M S Dhoni appearing on a magazine cover posing as Lord Vishnu with a shoe in his hand. The priests have threatened to take Dhoni to court.

Here is the exclusive pic of Indian cricketer MS Dhoni posing as Lord Vinshu for the cover page of Business Today magazine. A controversy has already erupted for hurting the religious sentiments of the Hindus. A case has been registered against Dhoni in Bangalore for allegedly defaming a Hindu god by the 6th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate under section 295 of IPC.

“Knowingly or unknowingly, Dhoni has hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus by defaming a Hindu god. How could he think of holding a shoe in his Vishnu avatar,” said priest Daitapati Bhagaban Dasmohapatra. The priests, who assembled under the banner of Sri Jagannath Sanskuti Surakshya Bahini, have demanded an apology from the Indian captain.

“We will move the court against Dhoni and the magazine if they don’t apologize,” said Bahini convener Sabyasachi Rath. The agitators gave a memorandum to law minister and Puri MLA Maheswar Mohanty, seeking Odisha government’s intervention. “Nobody has the right to hurt the sentiments of any religion. I am looking into the memorandum,” Mohanty said.