BHUBANESWAR: A political confrontation has erupted with senior BJD leader Pranab Prakash Das and Law minister Prithiviraj Harichandan exchanging barbs over the Ratna Bhandar inventory, accusing each other of misleading the public.
As the ongoing verification of the temple treasury revealed that items in the Ratna Bhandar have so far matched the 1978 inventory, in a strongly worded social media post, Das alleged that a “deliberate misinformation campaign” was unleashed during the last elections. He termed the claims about missing ornaments as “unfortunate” and a “cruel mockery” of the sentiments of the people of the state.
Targeting top political leaders of the BJP including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Das said political leaders used rumours to create fear and confusion among people for electoral gains. After a detailed verification process, the temple’s chief administrator, Arabinda Padhee clarified that all jewellery were safe and secure, Das said and accused BJP leaders - from the state unit to national figures - of making baseless allegations claiming that valuables had been shifted outside the state.
“The truth, buried under a mountain of lies, has now come to light,” he said calling the episode a “black chapter in democracy.”
The BJD leader came down heavily on the ruling BJP for indulging in ‘cheap politics’ instead of acknowledging the remarkable developmental and transformational works undertaken by the previous government. He demanded that those who spread “falsehoods” must apologise.
Harichandan rejected Das’ claims and said that the state government possesses ‘ample evidence’ to expose irregularities during the previous BJD regime, particularly the missing keys of the Ratna Bhandar. He pointed out that the so-called ‘duplicate key’ recovered from the district treasury had failed to open the Ratna Bhandar lock.
“If it was indeed a valid duplicate, why did it not work?” he asked, adding that authorities were ultimately forced to break open the lock using a saw.
He challenged the BJD leadership to come clean on the missing key controversy and warned that revealing the full facts could politically damage them. Harichandan said the government is not interested in politicising religious matters, especially while the ongoing inventory and verification of ornaments in the temple’s Bhitara Ratna Bhandar (inner chamber) continues.
He said political parties must refrain from ‘petty politics’ involving Lord Jagannath which can hurt religious sentiments of millions of devotees.