West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee’s bid to fast-track the Jagannath temple project being built in Digha, a coastal town in Purba Medinipur district, and her decision to induct ISKCON Kolkata vice president Radharamn Das in the temple’s board of trustees have heated up state politics.
Stung by Mamata’s moves, senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, said that as per the Constitution the government cannot use funds from the state exchequer for constructing any religious institution.
Purba Medinipur is Suvendu’s home turf, where he even defeated Mamata in the Nandigram constituency in the 2021 Assembly polls by 1,956 votes.
Digha’s Jagannath temple being built by the West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (WBHIDCO), a state-run urban planning body, in the likeness of Puri’s famous Jagannath temple is one of Mamata’s most ambitious projects.
Suvendu alleged that as per the official documents the WBHIDCO was building a cultural centre called “Jagannath Dham Sanskriti Kendra” and not a Jagannath temple.
On Wednesday, Mamata visited the Jagannath temple site in Digha along with top officials to review the project, announcing that it will be inaugurated on the occasion of Akshay Tritiya on April 30 next year. Bengal is due for Assembly polls in March-April 2026.
Interestingly, Radharamn Das accompanied Mamata during this visit. Her move to include Das in the Jagannath temple panel has come at a time when Bengal has been witnessing widespread protests, including those held by the BJP, against alleged attacks on Hindus and ISKCON members in Bangladesh. A Hindu monk and former ISKCON leader Chinmoy Krishna Das has been arrested by the police there. Radharamn Das has led some of these protests across Bengal.
In Digha, Mamata also turned the heat on the BJP-led Centre over the Bangladesh issue, maintaining that it must protect the persecuted Hindu minority in the neighbouring country and bring back those willing to come to India. She said, “I think the central government should take action. Action means safety for people. Arrange to bring back those who want to return. Many people are coming from the border. BSF is stopping somewhere, not stopping somewhere. The flight is on. Those who have visa-passport are coming. Not a single border has been closed. It’s all about the Centre. We just want the minorities there to be saved.”
Targeting Mamata, Suvendu said, “You (Mamata) are claiming that a Jagannath temple on the model of Jagannath temple in Puri is being built in Digha and about Rs 250 crore has already been spent on its construction. But there is a big difference between your claim and reality. The tender and work order documents of the WBHIDCO clearly show that the project has been referred to as ‘Jagannath Dham Sanskriti Kendra’ while inviting tenders,” he stated.
Charging that Mamata did not have any connection with Hindu organisations, Suvendu claimed that it was only after the Ram Temple was constructed in Ayodhya that she came up with a similar idea to garner support of the Hindu community in the state. He also said the Puri Jagannath temple is one of the four dhams in India, which could not be replicated.
Suvendu also took aim at Radharamn Das for his “silence” over Mamata’s move which, he alleged “undermined the Hindu faith”.
Hitting back at Suvendu, a senior TMC leader said, “BJP is playing communal card in Bengal over the Bangladesh unrest but the CM has hijacked the issue from them. Out of frustration, Suvendu is saying such things.”
TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said, “What is BJP’s problem if some people worship Jagannath in Digha. Mamata Banerjee developed Furfura Sharif, Christian holy sites as well as Hindu temples. She believes individuals may follow different religions, but Bengal is for all. Why BJP is so angry over this?”
In his reaction to the row, CPM leader Sujan Chakraborty referred to TMC MLA from Murshidabad Humayun Kabir’s recent remark that he would build a Babri mosque in the district. “Jagannath temple at Digha? Does the explanation of history match? Just like Babri masjid in Murshidabad, non-historical and ridiculous… RSS and TMC’s competitive politics of division and polarisation is now becoming increasingly clear in the state.”
On Thursday, the BJP’s Murshidabad unit chief Shakharav Sarkar said they would build a Ram temple in the district. “We have already seen the land. We will build a Ram mandir with Rs 10 crore, which will be inaugurated in two years.”
However, there seems to be some unease in a section of the state BJP over the party’s bid to take on Mamata over the Digha Jagannath temple issue. A senior BJP leader said, “We are stepping into this issue very cautiously. We are opposing the Jagannath temple being built by the TMC government saying we can’t make a replica of Prabhu Jagannath’s mandir. Simultaneously, we don’t want Mamata Banerjee to hijack our temple politics in the run-up to the Assembly polls.”
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