The nine-day annual festival of Jagannath Rath Yatra festival begins on Saturday and is expected to attract over lakhs of devotees who will pull the chariots of deities of Lord Jagannath, Balaram, and Subhadra on the occasion. Tight security arrangements have been put in place to ensure smooth conduct of Rath Yatra.

On this auspicious occasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter and extended his greetings of the annual Jagannath Ratha Yatra. "With the blessings of Lord Jagannath, may our country scale new heights of growth. May every Indian be happy and prosperous," the PM tweeted.

Greetings on the auspicious occasion of Rath Yatra.

With the blessings of Lord Jagannath, may our country scale new heights of growth. May every Indian be happy and prosperous.

Jai Jagannath! pic.twitter.com/1Ifrxueaiu

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 14, 2018

Meanwhile, BJP president Amit Shah who is in Gujarat participated in the 'mangla aarti' at the Lord Jagannath Temple, before the commencement of the 141st Rath Yatra. He will address a Youth Parliament' at a private university in Gandhinagar.

BJP President Amit Shah attends aarti at Jagannath Temple in Ahmedabad. #Gujarat pic.twitter.com/nEQmvp2kXM

— ANI (@ANI) July 13, 2018

Later, Shah would address a youth parliament at Karnavati University which will also be attended by Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and state BJP president Jitu Vaghani. The youth parliament, titled "Forum for Democratic Dialogues" is a two-day event that will see students from educational institutions debate on social and political issues.