Why West Bengal is now dropping ‘Dham’ from Digha Jagannath temple

The West Bengal CM said the complex would remain and that worship would continue there as per the rituals of Jagannath culture.

BJP Puri MP Sambit Patra, who had gone to Bengal with Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi’s letter requesting that the word “dham” be dropped from the Digha temple’s name, was present during the announcement.

The naming of the newly built temple at Digha, inaugurated in April last year by the Mamata Banerjee government, had been criticised by servitors of the Puri temple, and the Odisha government had strongly objected to the new temple being called a “dham”.

The Odisha Chief Minister, in a letter to his then West Bengal counterpart on May 6, 2025, had said that using “dham” for the Digha temple “dilutes the distinct heritage of Puri”, and added that it hurt the sentiments and emotions of millions of pilgrims and devotees.

Majhi had noted that the Puri shrine holds unparalleled religious, spiritual, and cultural significance, not just for the people of Odisha, but for millions of devotees across India and the world, and that the name “Jagannath Dham” holds a unique and sacrosanct identity linked to Puri.

Chairperson of the Shree Jagannath Temple Managing Committee, Dibyasingha Deb, also appealed to ISKCON, which manages affairs at the Digha temple, to persuade authorities to desist from using the word “dham” for the new shrine, arguing that it amounted to a violation of the “scriptural injunctions and long-established tradition” of Lord Jagannath.