MUSLIM SOLDIER’S ENTRY INTO PURI TEMPLE CREATES FLUTTER

On August 12 a sort of chaos prevailed at Jagannath temple in Puri after a Muslim soldier accompanied his brigadier into the 12th century shrine, which is off-limits to non-Hindus. Police said havildar M A Rashid, a bodyguard to Brig. Beda Prakash, was with the army officer who was visiting the temple. Some priests there raised an alarm after they saw the soldier’s name on his badge. Rashid pleaded ignorance about the rule that bars non-Hindus from entering the temple. “I had absolutely no idea about the rule. Nobody stopped me at the temple gate,” Rashid, who is employed at the Army Air Defence College at Golabandha in Gopalpur, said. The brigadier defended his bodyguard’s unintentional mistake. “We had no intention to deceive anyone. Rashid could have removed his badge and nobody would have been the wiser about his religion. But he did not do so,” Brig. Prakash, who is posted in Lucknow, said. “We are armymen. We are people of high integrity.”