Amit Malviya flays Mamata Banerjee over 'controversies' surrounding Digha Temple

Hans India

04-05-2025

Kolkata: BJP Information Technology cell chief and the party's central observer for West Bengal, on Sunday, lashed out at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over multiple "controversies" surrounding the newly-built Jagannath Temple, officially termed as a cultural centre, at Digha in East Midnapore district.
Notably, the Odisha Government has directed the Shree Jagannatha Temple Administration, Puri, to initiate a probe into the matter.
Armed by a media byte of Puri Jagannath temple sevayat Ramkrishna Das Mahapatra, also known as Rajesh Daitapati, he claimed that leftover Darubrahma wood from the Puri Jagannath temple was used to carve the deities in Digha temple, which proves why the Chief Minister and her party, Trinamool Congress, are often accused of theft.
"Leftover timber meant for Puri's Jagannath Temple was used to carve deities in Digha - and now a probe has been ordered. There's a reason why West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress are often called a bunch of thieves. The TMC runs like a well-oiled corruption machine, sparing nothing-not even our deities. The people of Bengal deserve better than these constant embarrassments and shady dealings," Malviya said in a statement on X.
As per claims of Rajesh Daitapati, the idol of the Digha temple, officially referred to as Jagannath Dham Cultural Centre in the records of the West Bengal government, was originally intended to be made of marble.
However, Daitapati claimed that as he strongly objected to using marble for idols since "Darubrahma wood" is traditionally used for crafting the idol of Lord Jagannath, CM Banerjee requested him to use the leftover Darubrahma wood from the Puri Jagannath Mandir for carving the deities in Digha temple.
"It is now up to the Pujapanda Sevayats and Dharmagurus to decide whether this aligns with Hindu customs. However, Mamata Banerjee must answer to the devotees of Prabhu Jagannath: why did she choose to disrespect their faith and beliefs by using leftover wood for crafting Jagannath idols?" Malviya's post read.
Another major controversy is naming the Digha structure as Jagannath Dham Cultural Centre, ignoring the significance of the word 'Dham' or what can be described as 'Dham' and whatnot.
As per traditional Hindu belief, there are four Dhams, popularly known as 'Char Dham', namely Badrinath, Dwarka, Rameswaram, and Puri. Apart from that, no other temple or religious establishment can be referred to as Dham since the word has a special religious significance.