West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee’s bid to fast-track the Jagannath temple project being built in the coastal town of Digha in East Medinipur district and her decision to include ISKCON Kolkata vice-president Radharaman Das on the temple’s board. Trustees have heated up state politics.
Shocked by Mamata’s move, the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, senior BJP leader Subendu Adhikari said that according to the constitution, the government cannot spend money from the state fund to build any religious institution.
Poorva Medinipur is Subendu’s home ground, where he defeated Mamata in the 2021 assembly elections also in the Nandigram constituency by 1,956 votes.
The Jagannath temple in Digha is one of Mamata’s most ambitious projects on the lines of the famous Jagannath temple in Puri, being built by the West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (WBHIDCO), a state-run urban planning body.
Subhendu alleged that according to the official documents, WVDCO was building a cultural center called ‘Jagannath Dham Sanskriti Kendra’ and not the Jagannath temple.
On Wednesday, Mamata visited the Jagannath temple site in Digha along with top officials to review the project, announcing that it would be inaugurated on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya on April 30 next year. Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in March-April 2026 in Bengal.
Interestingly, Radharaman Das accompanied Mamata on this tour. His move to include Das in the Jagannath temple panel comes at a time when Bengal is witnessing widespread protests, including those held by the BJP, against alleged attacks on Hindus and ISKCON members in Bangladesh. The Hindu monk and former ISKCON leader Chinmoy Krishna Das has been arrested by the police. Radharaman Das has led some of these protests across Bengal.
In Digha, Mamata also heated up the BJP leadership’s focus on the Bangladesh issue, saying it should protect the persecuted Hindu minority in the neighboring country and bring back those willing to come to India. She said, ‘I think the central government should take the initiative. Action is protection for people. Arranging arrangements to bring back those who want to return. Many people come from the border. BSF is stopped somewhere, not stopped anywhere. The flight is underway. Visa-passport holders are coming. Not a single border has been closed. It’s all about the center. We want to protect the minorities there. “
Targeting Mamata, Subhendu said, ‘You (Mamata) are claiming that the Jagannath temple is on it. A model of the Jagannath temple in Puri is being built in Digha And about 250 crore rupees have been spent on its construction. But there is a big difference between your claim and reality. WBHIDCO’s tender and work order documents clearly show that the project was referred to as ‘Jagannath Dham Sanskriti Kendra’ while inviting tenders,” he said.
Alleging that Mamata has no connection with Hindu organizations, Subhendu claimed that she brought such an idea only after the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya to garner the support of the Hindu community in the state. He also said that the Puri Jagannath Temple is one of the four Dhams of India, which cannot be duplicated.
Subhendu also targeted Radharaman Das for his “silence” on Mamata’s move, accusing him of “undermining Hindu faith”.
Responding to Subhendu, a senior TMC leader said, “BJP is playing the communal card in Bengal over the unrest in Bangladesh but the CM has hijacked the issue from them. Out of desperation, Subhendu is saying such things.”
TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said, “What is BJP’s problem if some people worship Jagannath at Digha. Mamata Banerjee developed Furfura Sharif, Christian holy places and Hindu temples. She believes that people follow different religions, but Bengal is for everyone. Why are you angry?
Reacting to the row, CPM leader Sujan Chakraborty referred to TMC MLA Humayun Kabir’s recent comments from Murshidabad that he would build a Babri Masjid in the district. “The Jagannath temple in Digha? Can history be explained? As non-historical and ridiculous as the Babri Masjid in Murshidabad… the competitive politics of division and polarization of RSS and TMC is now becoming more and more evident in the state.
On Thursday, BJP’s Murshidabad unit chief Shakhrao Sarkar said they will build a Ram temple in the district. “We have looked at the land. We will build a Ram Mandir at a cost of Rs 10 crore, which will be inaugurated in two years.
However, there seems to be some uneasiness in a section of the state BJP over the party’s bid to take on Mamata on the Digha Jagannath temple issue. A senior BJP leader said, “We are taking a very cautious approach on this issue. We are opposing the Jagannath temple built by the TMC government saying we cannot build a replica of Lord Jagannath’s temple. Also, we don’t want Mamata Banerjee to hijack our temple politics in the run-up to the assembly elections.”
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