Former US President and Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump narrowly escaped an assassination bid but got injured as one of the bullets fired pierced the upper part of his right ear. The attack happened when he was addressing a rally in Pennsylvania.
Matt Wallace, a social media user, shared a photo which captures the bullet some inches away from Trump. The former president turned his head at that moment, which probably saved his life. Wallace said if Trump had not turned his head at that exact moment, he would be dead right now. He called it a "divine intervention".
Kolkata ISKCON V-P Radharamn Das agreed with Wallace, saying: "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 favor by saving him," Das said in a detailed post on X.
In July 1976, Trump helped ISKCON devotees organise Rathayatra by providing his train yard for the construction of the raths for free, the priest said as he shared the details of the favour by the real estate magnate. "Today, as the world celebrates the 9-day Jagannath Rathayatra festival, this terrible attack on him and his narrow escape show Jagannath's intervention."
The Kolkata ISKCON V-P said the first chariot procession of the Lord of the Universe Mahaprabhu Jagannath kicked off on the streets of NYC in 1976, with assistance from the then 30-year-old emerging real-estate mogul in the United States of America – Donald Trump.
According to him, 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 a parade permit at 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, he said.
Das said that ISKCON knocked at the doors of every person possible but in vain. It was then that Trump emerged as a ray of hope for the Krishna devotees, he added. With ISKCON celebrating its 10th birthday in 1976, devotees in NYC were planning the first big Rath Yatra there.
"We had permission to use Fifth Avenue, which in fact is a big deal. But we needed an empty site close to the starting point of the parade route, to build the massive wooden carts. Everyone we asked said NO. They were concerned about insurance risks etc, which is understandable."
DONALD TRUMP'S YES
Das then went into the details of how Trump helped ISKCON when almost everyone said no to its Rath Yatra. He said almost all the firm owners who were approached reportedly said they were in the process of selling the property at the Pennsylvania rail yard, which was marked as the perfect location for cart making.
A few days later, he added, someone told them that Donald Trump had purchased the old railway yard. "But still there were concerns as a dozen other landlords they had asked for had already said no, and ‘why would Trump be any different?"
Nevertheless, the devotees went to his office with a big basket of Maha Prasadam and a presentation package. His secretary took it but warned the devotees, "He never agrees to this kind of thing. You can ask but he is going to say NO. "Have faith in Mahaprabhu they say, and the miracle was bound to happen!"
According to Das, 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?" The secretary then said, "Come on down and get his signed letter of permission.” Yes, Trump had signed the papers giving permission to use the open rail yards for construction of Rath Yatra carts."