INDIA May 19, 2025 (The Hindu): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee inaugurated the Jagannath Dham at Digha on April 30, kicking up a controversy with the Odisha government, currently run by the BJP. On April 28, Bankim Mishra travelled about 155 miles from Chhatna in West Bengal’s Bankura district to Digha in Purba Medinipur, carrying 3,003 lotus flowers and water from the sacred Susunia spring. Mishra, a Trinamool Congress leader of Chhatna panchayat, is a devotee of Lord Jagannath, a form of the Hindu God Vishnu. He had felt an urge to witness the inauguration of the newly constructed temple in the State, a replica of the 12th-century Jagannath Temple in Puri, Odisha. Built at a cost of US$30.12 million of taxpayers’ money, front-page advertisements were issued across national newspapers and details of the architecture discussed on local channels for hours “We are indebted to Didi (West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee) for constructing the Jagannath temple in Digha. People can now travel within their own State for worship instead of going to Puri (in Odisha),” Mishra says.

Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi wrote to Banerjee requesting her to refrain from using the “Jagannath Dham” term for the temple. “The name Jagannath Dham holds a unique and sacrosanct identity linked to Puri, and its usage in reference to any other temple or location hurts sentiments and emotions of millions of pilgrims, devotees, and the general public, besides diluting the distinct heritage of Shree Jagannath Dham, Puri,” Majhi wrote in the letter. Banerjee was unfazed. “Why are they so angry just because we have built a Jagannath temple in Digha? Is it a crime to worship Lord Jagannath in West Bengal? Why does it hurt them so much? We all go to Puri,” she said while visiting strife-torn Murshidabad district on May 6. Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) experts, however, feel that the controversy over Jagannath Dham may not be that simple. “This dispute is less about pure IPR and more about cultural and regional identity politics,” says Pinaki Ghosh, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, IPR Chair Professor, West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata

Much more of this detailed analysis of the politics behind the creation of the Digha Temple at source.
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/west-bengal/the-tussle-for-temple-turf/article69588493.ece

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