BHUBANESWAR: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday announced that the term ‘Dham’ will be removed from the Jagannath temple in Digha, which was inaugurated by former chief minister Mamata Banerjee in April last year.
Adhikari said the temple will now be called ‘Sri Sri Jagannath Cultural Centre’ and the deities of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra worshipped in accordance with prescribed norms and rituals.
The announcement came in response to a letter written by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi requesting him to remove the ‘Dham’ tag from the temple at Digha. The letter was delivered to Adhikari at Kolkata by Puri MP Sambit Patra.
Majhi said naming of the Jagannath temple complex as ‘Digha Jagannath Dham’ has generated serious concern among devotees, religious scholars and socio-cultural organisations. He urged the West Bengal government to give an alternative name such as Shri Jagannath Temple, Digha, by dropping the suffix Dham.
Majhi said, “I also recall your consistent understanding and support for the sentiments of the people of Odisha on matters concerning the rich heritage of Mahaprabhu Shree Jagannath. Given your deep appreciation of this issue and your present responsibility as the Chief Minister of West Bengal, I am confident that you will appreciate the concerns being expressed by devotees and stakeholders.”
“Such a step,” Majhi said, “would be widely appreciated by devotees and help strengthen the longstanding bonds of goodwill, cultural affinity, and mutual respect between the people of the two neighbouring states.” He sought Adhikari’s personal intervention for a positive resolution aligned with the sentiments of Jagannath devotees.
The West Bengal CM said he recently spoke to the ISKCON monks about the name of the temple complex of Lord Jagannath and was convinced that it was not in accordance with Sanatani culture and traditions.
“We will remove the word ‘Dham’ from the complex and worship the deities strictly in accordance with the prescribed Sanatani norms,” he said.
Adhikari said the cabinet resolution and the subsequent tender notices for construction of the premises during the erstwhile Mamata Banerjee government called the project a ‘cultural centre’ with no provision for the word ‘Dham’ in it, indicating that the word was added as an afterthought.
Stating that there were debates on the word right from the beginning and the previous government had insulted Sanatani sentiments by including it, Adhikari said, he has directed the chief secretary to issue the necessary notification and apprise the Trust managing the premises about the change.
Thanking the West Bengal CM for his immediate action, Patra said countless devotees of Lord Jagannath all over the globe, including 4.5 crore Odia people, were anguished at the naming of the Digha temple complex which reflected an attitude of “toying with Hindu sentiments” by the previous TMC government.
“As per Sanatan dharma, Adi Shankaracharya established the four sacred pilgrimage sites or Char Dham in Hinduism, of which the original Jagannath Temple in Puri is one. There is no provision in our ancient tradition to add to those sites,” he said.
