Digha Jagannath temple opening sets up new BJP-TMC showdown

As a result of the TMC encroaching on the BJP’s domain of temple politics, the occasion of the shrine’s inauguration has turned into a political flashpoint. While the CM and her senior party leaders participate in the rituals and events preceding the opening of the temple on Wednesday, Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Suvendu Adhikari has announced he will organise a rally of “Sanatani Hindus” in his home turf of Contai, which, like Digha, is in Purba Medinipur district. Adhilkari’s BJP colleagues, meanwhile, will conduct a campaign to “renovate” temples in Murshidabad that they claim were damaged during the violence earlier this month.

A senior TMC leader said that by playing the temple politics card, the CM could blunt the BJP’s criticism that she was appeasing only Muslims and the Opposition party’s narrative would not gain the same traction among Hindus.

The BJP has targeted Banerjee by calling her a “fake Hindu” and saying government funds cannot be used to construct temples. Modelled after the 12th-century Jagannath temple in Puri, the shrine in Digha, spread over 20 acres of land, has been built by the state-run Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) for Rs 250 crore.

A decked up road in Digha on Tuesday (Express/Partha Paul)

“Puri Dham will remain Puri Dham. Mamata Banerjee is a fake Hindu. Temples can’t be built using government funds. It is a cultural centre, not a temple. Don’t mislead the people of Bengal. Hindus make temples on their own. No government fund was used to build the Ram temple (in Ayodhya). Hindus across the world funded it,” said Adhikari, who also pointed to the “exodus” of Hindu families from the violence-affected areas of Murshidabad.

State BJP president and Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar also took aim at the CM. “On one hand, you are killing Hindus, and on the other hand, you are constructing temples. Constructing temples or mosques is not the job of the government… Mamata Banerjee is trying to win the elections by climbing on the shoulders of Lord Jagannath,” he said.

The two seniormost BJP leaders, in an attempt to keep the focus on the Murshidabad violence, also reiterated that the party would start the process of “rebuilding and restoring the vandalised Hindu temples in the district”. Adhikari added that all “Sanatani religious rituals will be followed for the ‘shuddhikaran (purification)’ and renovation”.

Asked how he would observe “Akshay Tritiya”, Majumdar said he would “reinstall idols of deities in the mandirs of Murshidabad”.

Aware that neither he nor the party could be seen as against the construction of a temple, Adhikari has alleged that, in reality, what Banerjee will inaugurate on Wednesday is a cultural centre and not a temple, as the Constitution bars taxpayers’ money from being used to construct places of worship. “The tender and work order documents of HIDCO clearly show that the work was referred to as ‘Jagannath Dham Sanskriti Kendra (Jagannath Dham Cultural Centre)’ when tenders were invited.”

The attacks drew a fierce counter from the TMC, with the party’s Serampore MP Kalyan Banerjee saying that the BJP considers only those who chant “Jai Shri Ram” real Hindus. “Is he a real Hindu? According to the BJP’s idea of Hinduism, only those who follow the Hindus of Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, eat vegetarian food, and chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ are Sanatani Hindus.”

“Mamata Banerjee belongs to a Brahmin Hindu family and she is secular … She developed Furfura Sharif, Christian holy places, as well as Hindu mandirs. She respects all religions. She believes individuals may believe in different religions, while West Bengal is for all. Why is the BJP so angry about that? Suvendu Adhikari, his father, and his brothers were with Mamata Banerjee for so many years. Adhikari was an MLA, MP, and a minister from TMC. Back then, did he not think of all these things he is objecting to now?” asked TMC leader Kunal Ghosh.