Ram Navami celebrations in Bhadrak, Odisha have always been organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party and its affiliate organisations and are also associated with memories of communal violence in the town. This year, the festival was celebrated aggressively against the backdrop of the BJP’s landslide victory in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections and the town witnessed another communal clash. Even so, the majority of Bhadrak’s residents have refused to fall prey to the machinations of communal politics.
