Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi wrote a formal letter to his West Bengal counterpart requesting that the term "Jagannath Dham" be removed from the nomenclature of the newly inaugurated temple in Digha.
In the letter to chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Majhi said that the term “Jagannath Dham” is inextricably tied to the ancient and sacred temple in Puri, which holds immense religious and cultural significance for the people of Odisha.
The Odisha CM warned that referring to the Digha temple in the same manner could mislead devotees and deeply offend the sentiments of Odias who revere the Puri shrine as a spiritual epicenter.
On Tuesday, Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal, Suvendu Adhikari, posted a photo on social media claiming that a blue structure bearing the words “Jagannath Dham” near the Digha temple had been dismantled. The post stirred further outrage, with critics accusing the state government of backtracking amid criticism and of attempting to equate the Digha shrine with Puri’s historic temple.
Trinamool Congress MLA Akhil Giri denied the claims, stating the structure in question was merely a temporary installation for the inauguration ceremony. He dismissed the controversy as unnecessary. ISKCON Kolkata Vice President Radharam Das, who is overseeing the Digha temple, echoed the same, adding that the word "Dham" remains prominently inscribed within the temple premises, including on the sanctum.
Meanwhile, the East Midnapore district police issued a statement refuting reports of the structure’s removal, branding the viral photo as "fake news." Authorities confirmed that no such incident had occurred and that legal proceedings had been initiated against those spreading misinformation online.
A formal case has been registered at Digha Police Station based on these allegations, with police warning against any attempts to incite communal or political unrest by distorting facts related to the temple.
The controversy gained momentum after Mamata Banerjee recently inaugurated the Jagannath temple in Digha, officially referring to it as "Jagannath Dham". This move triggered a backlash across Odisha, prompting Majhi’s intervention. The situation escalated further with allegations that sacred neem wood — used in crafting the idol at Digha — was illegally sourced from the Puri temple.
While the Odisha government has dismissed the allegations as untrue and launched an investigation into the claims, political tensions have continued to mount. The controversy took a dramatic turn after Rajesh Dayitapati, a senior member of the Puri temple administration and an invited guest at the Digha temple’s inauguration, initially claimed that the idol in Digha had been made from leftover sacred neem wood (daru) used during the Navakalevara ritual at Puri in 2015.
However, after returning to Odisha amid rising backlash, Dayitapati retracted his statement, clarifying that the idol was made from a different neem tree altogether— not the sacred wood used at Puri.
Mamata herself addressed the issue during a public meeting in Murshidabad, expressing indignation at the allegations. “I was told I stole wood from the Jagannath temple! What a shame! And now the same people are saying I didn’t,” she said, dismissing the controversy as politically motivated.
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