Odisha to Bengal: Stop calling Digha temple Jagannath Dham

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha authorities on Sunday mentioned it supposed to ship a letter to Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, requesting her to cease referring to the lately constructed Jagannath temple in Digha as “Jagannath Dham“, even because the controversy sparked a disagreement between the governing BJP and opposition.
The improvement coincided with claims by a senior servitor of Puri Jagannath Temple, Ramakrushna Dasmohapatra, that he had helped make the idols for the Digha shrine utilizing leftover wooden from the Puri temple. Dasmohapatra was questioned Sunday by Puri temple authorities as a part of an ongoing authorities probe into the claims.
“Action will be taken against those responsible if found guilty of illegally using Jagannath temple’s sacred timber to build the idols of Digha Jagannath temple. Our CM (Mohan Majhi) will write to the Bengal government to stop branding Digha Jagannath temple as Jagannath Dham. This title is reserved for Puri, which is home to the main Jagannath temple,” state legislation minister Prithiviraj Harichandan mentioned on Sunday.
Mamata’s TMC repudiated the objections. “If they (BJP) question the establishment of a Hindu temple, this shows their desperation. On one hand, BJP claims to be a ‘Hinduwadi’ party, on the other, they are raising questions on the pratishtha (sanctity) of the (Digha) temple. If there is any question on the establishment, it should be asked by the four Shankaracharyas,” TMC spokesperson Jay Prakash Majumdar mentioned.
Craftsmen from Puri temple have, nonetheless, dismissed claims that extra neem wooden had been used to construct the three idols of the Digha shrine. According to them, the excess wooden that had been saved after making the idols of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra through the 2015 Nabakalebara (creation of recent idols) Rath Yatra, have been too small, ranging between 3 and 10 inches, making them unsuitable for building of the idols.
Opposition BJD and Congress, in the meantime, have criticised BJP for allegedly failing to deal with the scenario. Senior Congress neta Niranjan Patnaik mentioned it’s a matter of grave concern as the problem entails emotional join of 4.5 crore Odias to Lord Jagannath, the Jagannath Temple, and its tradition. “Odisha government must intervene to protect this heritage amid potential threats,” Patnaik mentioned.
Former CM Naveen Patnaik’s BJD criticised the state authorities’s obvious lack of initiative in defending Jagannath tradition. “Despite four days having passed since the Digha temple’s inauguration on April 30, the state government has not officially raised the matter with West Bengal,” senior BJD chief Prasanna Acharya mentioned. BJP hit again, saying the state authorities has promptly intervened to deal with the problem. “The opposition should refrain from politicising the Jagannath culture,” legislation minister Harichandan mentioned.