Kolkata:The ISKCON, the global Hindu spiritual movement, which has millions of devotees in the US, claimed that the intervention by Lord Jagannath saved former US President Donald Trump, who has narrowly escaped an assassination attempt during at an election rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
ISKCON spokesperson, Radharamn Das, who is based in Kolkata, linked the narrow escape to Donald Trump's involvement with the first Rath Yatra in New York 48 years ago, during which he reportedly assisted devotees. He suggested that Lord Jagannath reciprocated this favour by protecting Donald Trump.
“Yes, for sure it's a divine intervention. Exactly 48 years ago, Donald Trump saved the Jagannath Rathayatra festival. Today, as the world celebrates the Jagannath Rathayatra festival again, Trump was attacked, and Jagannath returned the favour by saving him,” Radharamn Das, a spokesperson ISKCON Kolkata, posted on X (formally Twitter).
ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) is a spiritual movement, more commonly known as the Hare Krishna movement.
"In July 1976, Donald Trump helped ISKCON devotees organise Rathayatra by providing his train yard for the construction of the raths for free. Today, as the world celebrates the 9-day Jagannath Rathayatra festival, this terrible attack on him and his narrow escape show Jagannath's intervention", Radharamn Das added.
Radharamn Das also said, "Nearly 48 years ago, when the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) was planning to organize the first Rath Yatra in New York City, challenges were galore. While the grant of parade permit at the Fifth Avenue was nothing short of a miracle, finding a huge empty site where chariots could be built was also never going to be easy. They knocked at the doors of every person possible, but in vain. It was then that the former US president Donald Trump emerged as a ray of hope for the Krishna devotees."
Trump, 78, was holding a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania - a key state in the November 5 election - when an attcaker targeted him with bullets which pierced his right ear and leaving his face streaked with blood. His campaign said he was doing well.
The incident left one person in the crowd was killed and two others wounded before Secret Service agents fatally shot the suspect.
