Donald Trump assasination bid: Lord Jagannath saved Donald Trump, as he had saved the Rathyatra festival 48 years back, ISKCON spokesperson and vice-president, Radharamn Das, said on the occasion of Rathyatra celebrations on Monday.
In July 1976, Donald Trump had contributed to the Rathyatra celebrations by allowing ISKON devotees to construct raths in his train yard for free, in New York. Lord Jagannath has returned the favour with his divine intervention, that saved the U.S presidential candidate, said Radharamn Das.
“Today, as the world celebrates the 9-day Jagannath Rathayatra festival, this terrible attack on him and his narrow escape show Jagannath's intervention,” Das wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
In 1976, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) faced a lot of challenges when it decided to start the first Rath Yatra in New York, said Das.
Lord Jagannath's processions, however kicked off with help from Donald Trump, who was then emerging as as real-estate tycoon.
The U.S presidential candidate, who nearly survived an attack by assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks, at the Trump rally shooting incident, had acted as divine ray of hope for ISKCON devotees, said Das. He had granted the open site for building ‘raths’, while getting the parade permit for Fifth Avenue, was a miracle.
“ 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, ” Das wrote on X.
Following several rejections, the ISKCON devotees reached out to Donald Trump, who had recently acquired the Pennsylvania rail yard that year. While Trump's secretary had already warned that the new owner would say no, the devotees still approached him with a basket of ‘Maha Prasadam’.
"Three days later, Trump’s secretary called up the devotees saying, “I don't know what happened but he read your letter, took a bit of the food you left, and immediately said Sure, why not?,” and gave ISCKON a signed permission letter, said Radharamn Das.
