The Gajapati Maharaja of Puri and chairman of the Shree Jagannath Temple Managing Committee (SJTMC), Dibyasingha Deb, has written to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking their intervention to stop ISKCON from holding what he described as untimely Snan Yatra and Rath Yatra celebrations of Lord Jagannath across the world.

Deb alleged that ISKCON has continued to deviate from sacred scriptures and centuries-old Jagannath traditions despite repeated requests, hurting the religious sentiments of millions of devotees. The SJTMC is the highest policy-making body of the 12th-century Jagannath Temple in Puri.

In separate letters sent on July 4, Deb said nearly two decades of efforts by the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration and repeated statements by the Odisha government had failed to stop ISKCON from organising Jagannath festivals outside India on dates that, according to the temple tradition, are not in keeping with the scriptures.

Calling for central intervention, Deb urged the President and the Prime Minister to help preserve the sanctity of Jagannath traditions and prevent the organisation of untimely Snan Yatra and Rath Yatra events. He had earlier raised the issue with Modi in October 2025 and with Murmu in April this year.

The SJTMC has also decided to send a delegation to New Delhi to meet the President and the Prime Minister and explain the importance of preserving the sanctity of Jagannath culture, said Jagannath culture researcher Prof Harekrushna Satpathy.

Deb acknowledged that neither the Odisha government nor the temple administration alone could stop ISKCON from holding such events abroad. He said the issue had also been taken up with the chief minister, the law minister and public representatives from the state to build wider support for preserving the temple's traditions.

He also pointed out that ISKCON's international headquarters is in Mayapur in Bengal and expressed hope that the organisation's new leadership could be persuaded to follow Sanatan Dharma norms while conducting Jagannath rituals worldwide.

According to Deb, scriptures prescribe that Snan Yatra must be observed on Jyestha Poornima, while Rath Yatra should be held within a nine-day period beginning on Ashadha Shukla Paksha Dwitiya. While ISKCON follows these dates in India, many of its festivals abroad are held outside the prescribed period, he claimed.

Explaining his objection, Deb said Snan Yatra marks Lord Jagannath's birthday and questioned how such an occasion could be shifted to another date. On Rath Yatra, he clarified that the temple does not insist on a single day but on observing the festival within the prescribed nine-day window. Holding it on arbitrary dates, he said, violates the scriptures and centuries-old Jagannath traditions.