Gowda’s night-long homa catches even party workers by surprise

Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, who is known for visiting temples across the country and holding religious ceremonies to propitiate gods, surprised even his party workers by holding a night-long homa at the party office on Race Course Road in Bangalore.

The ritual, which was kept under wraps, became public only the next morning when JD (S) workers reached the party office. The party workers were in for a rude shock when they were initially denied entry into the office premises as Gowda had left strict directions to the security personnel not to allow any person inside.

Though smoke of homa, fragrance of agarbathis and chanting of vedic hymns that reverberated from the building gave an indication that a religious ceremony was underway, the party workers were still not sure what was going on inside. However, it later dawned on them that Gowda was holding yet another ritual when the security personnel emerged from the building and distributed flowers as offerings.

Party leaders later confirmed that Gowda had engaged a team of priests and performed the religious including a night-long homa, apparently to seek divine blessings for the party’s good performance in the forthcoming Assembly elections in Karnataka.

The rituals were performed under the direct supervision of Gowda and his son H D Revanna. While Gowda’s wife and Revanna’s wife too attended the ceremony, former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and his wife were missing.

Later, Kumaraswamy told reporters that the religious ceremony was held for the “good of all”.