On May 12, 1920 Mahatma Gandhi wrote in Young India that “Orissa, in spite of its enjoying the honour of having one of the great places of pilgrimage, viz., Jagannath Puri, appears to be a godforsaken country.” Those lines formed part of the first para of his article “Distress in Orissa” he authored in the context of a terrible famine, a manmade disaster, which struck Orissa then and caused massive death and human misery.Deaths near Gundicha shrine unprecedentedThose words of Gandhi are playing out more than hundred years later in 2025 when pilgrims and devotees are killed and scores of them injured during stampede near Gundicha temple on the third day Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath. The rush of pilgrims and devotees in the early morning at 4.30am on June 22, 2025 and the resultant loss of lives and grievous hurt caused to them is the result of the inefficiency of governance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of the state headed by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi who claimed before the commencement Rath yatra of 2025 that it would be error free, historic and memorable.But the utter failure in providing police arrangement, ambulance and water to the thousands of devotees resulted in a man made disaster causing death and injury. Such a tragedy is unprecedented in the history of Rath Yatra and never ever pilgrims visiting Puri to participate in Rath Yatra died in a stampede near Gundicha shrine located three kilometers away from the main shrine of three deities, Jagannath, Balavadra and Subhadra.Of course, Majhi sought forgiveness from the devotees for the deaths and injury during stampede after leader of opposition Naveen Patnaik held the state government to account for the grim tragedy. But it has failed to subside the anger and disaffection of people against the Government.The tradition associated with the Yatra mandates that once a year these three deities would come out of the temple and proceed in three chariots to Gundicha shrine, the abode of the aunt of those deities, to stay there for nine days.Defining feature of rath yatra disruptedThe defining feature of Puri Ratha Yatra is that the three deities from the temple are taken in a majestic procession to the chariots which are pulled by masses of people with great religious fervour. Jawhar Sircar in his article “The Jagannath Rath Yatra Is a Reminder of How Inclusive Hinduism Can Be”, published in The Wire in 2018 writes that “The Puri temple is one of rarest among the major Hindu temples that takes the original deities out of the sanctum-sanctorum, as other temples usually bring out in public processions only iconic representations of their deities called Utsava-murtis.”It is because the original deities are taken to the chariots for public view vast masses of people cutting across castes and faiths gather with great ardour and piety to pull them. But this time the chariot of Jagannath could not be pulled on the day of Rath Yatra and the Majhi-led BJP government explained that whatever happened could be attributed to the divine wish of the Lord.Even the temple administrator, Arvind Padhee, said that Lord Jagannath possibly waited for some devotees to come. Next day the opposition parties in Odisha accused the BJP government in Odisha of deliberately delaying in pulling the chariots of Lord Jagannath and his siblings in Puri on Friday (June 27) to allow the family of business tycoon Gautam Adani to pull the chariots.Congress leader and former minister Prasad Harichandan charged that “The entire administration was there but watched helplessly as the chariots remained halted. There was much talk about Gautam Adani and his family’s visit to participate in the Rath Yatra.”Lapses during last year’s Rath YatraEven during last year’s Rath Yatra in Puri, the idol of Lord Balavadra had slipped while being taken from the chariot to enter the Gundicha temple, leaving devotees shell shocked across the state. An inquiry was ordered to ascertain the cause behind the lapse and fix responsibility, but its report is yet to be made public by the state government.Ironically, before the 2024 elections to Lok Sabha and the Odisha state assembly, the BJP made the alleged mismanagement of Jagannath temple by then Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik an electoral issue. The move brought in rich electoral dividends and the saffron party subsequently got elected to rule the state. It is now getting exposed, with the abject failure in dealing with Rath Yatra and loss of lives in this year’s stampede affirming the complete breakdown of governance.Dalit atrocities and crimes against womenApart from this man-made disaster during Rath Yatra, the atrocities committed against two Dalit men in Ganjam district of Odisha add to the state government’s woes. They were beaten and made to crawl by holding grass in their mouths just for taking a cow and a calf for gifting those to their daughter at the time of her marriage.Mounting crimes against women and rapes committed against them recurrently also paint a grim picture of the law and order situation in the state. The latest example of a young college girl subjected to rape and sexual violence in Gopalpur sea beach shook the conscience of the people and state.US State Department advisoryThe US State Department has issued an advisory to its citizens and employees, advising them not to visit several states of India including Odisha, citing the fact that rape has emerged as one of the fastest growing crimes in India,” and “violent crimes, including sexual assault, happen at tourist sites and other locations.”It is clearly indicative of the danger to the safety and security of women in Odisha and, therefore, constitutes an indictment of the BJP Government’s ability to safeguard law and order in the state.Spread of choleraThe water borne disease of cholera has spread in more than five districts and over twenty people have died. Instead of taking prompt measures to deal with the problem, Chief Minister Majhi and his government were busy celebrating his one year in office by organising multiple programmes to showcase its so called achievements by spending tax payers’ money.Attack on employeesThese are only a few of the examples underlining the crisis caused by the failure of governance in managing the affairs related both to Lord Jagannath and humans in the state. The crisis is now getting compounded in the state and it got reflected in the way in which a senior officer of Odisha Administrative Service (OAS), Ratnakar Sahoo, was mercilessly dragged from his office while doing his job and kicked and beaten by some intruders and outsiders belonging to BJP in the premises of his working place.Even though media reported the arrest of miscreants and their expulsion from BJP the incident brought to limelight the total failure of the Government in running the affairs of the state with some semblance of discipline and order.Senior officials of the OAS have gone on mass leave in more than 20 districts to protest against the assault on Sahoo.Last year, the Odisha Governor’s son allegedly beat up an employee of Raj Bhavan and the entire state was outraged. So far, no action has been taken against the accused in spite of an enquiry conducted on the issue.Therefore, Gandhi’s description of Orissa of 1921 as godforsaken place resonates in Odisha of 2025. People are totally disaffected with the Majhi government and want authorities to stop this trend of collapsing and bad governance to save the state.S N Sahu served as Officer on Special Duty to President of India K R Narayanan.