Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday instructed the information and cultural affairs department to deliver prasad and photographs of the newly inaugurated Jagannath Dham to every household across Bengal, aiming to woo Hindu voters using the ₹250 crore shrine.
"I confer the responsibility on the information and cultural affairs department to deliver a photograph of this Jagannath temple and prasad to every household in Bengal. They will also reach out to notable persons across the country, particularly those who love Lord Jagannath," the chief minister said before inaugurating Digha's Jagannath Dham on Wednesday afternoon.
A source in the state government said district offices of the information and cultural affairs department, with the help of local block and district administrations, would carry out the assignments given by the chief minister.
Several sources in the Trinamool Congress and the saffron camp said Mamata's move to deliver prasad and photographs of the Jagannath Dham was closely aligned with what the RSS had done before the consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 22, 2024.
The RSS had launched a campaign from January 1 to 15 last year to reach out to 25 crore Hindu families across the country with akshat chawal (sacred rice) and a photograph of the Ram Temple, as part of its Griha Sampark Abhiyan (house-to-house outreach).
In Bengal, the saffron ecosystem reached out to one crore Hindu families as part of its communication drive, and many BJP leaders viewed it as an attempt to woo Hindu voters ahead of the 2024 general election.
"Mamata Banerjee has copied the way our organisation reached out to people across the country with akshat chawal. It may be her attempt to woo Hindus, but we doubt whether the people of the state will accept such an initiative, considering her past criticism of the Hindu community," Biplab Roy, state media coordinator of the RSS for south Bengal, said in Calcutta.
"However, we are still unsure whether the chief minister inaugurated a Jagannath temple or a cultural centre," he added.
A senior RSS leader pointed out a fundamental difference between their Ram temple campaign and Mamata's Jagannath initiative.
"The outreach drive by the RSS and other like-minded organisations had no government involvement. But here, Mamata Banerjee has involved her government to gain political advantage by appealing to Hindu voters. She could have asked TMC leaders to handle this," the RSS leader said.
Several Opposition leaders and government officials echoed the RSS leader. They said they could not remember an occasion, at least in Bengal, where a government department had been asked to carry out a "religious programme".
In her nine-minute inaugural speech, Mamata spoke of harmony and said the religious shrine welcomes people from all walks of life. A senior TMC leader said that although Mamata did not explicitly mention Hindus, it was evident that prasad and photographs would not be distributed to people of other faiths, particularly Muslims.
Opposition parties, including the BJP and the CPM, criticised Mamata’s move to use government funds and infrastructure for a religious purpose.
"The Ram temple was not built using government money, unlike Mamata Banerjee's so-called Jagannath temple. If she truly loved Lord Jagannath, she could have used crowdfunding to build the shrine. Unfortunately, she used government money for this purpose. However, we believe her government won’t last long," said BJP Rajya Sabha member Samik Bhattacharya.
CPM leader Sujan Chakraborty said Mamata's actions were more dangerous than the BJP's because she was using public funds.
"Mamata is following in the footsteps of the BJP and RSS. They distributed rice and photographs; now the TMC is distributing prasad and photographs. What makes Mamata's case more dangerous is that she is using public money for religious reasons," Chakraborty said.
"I’m sure the photograph of Jagannath temple being distributed will also include a picture of Mamata herself," he added.
The doors of Digha’s Jagannath Dham were opened on Wednesday with a cultural event where singers such as Aditi Munshi, Nachiketa Chakraborty, Jeet Ganguly, Sreeradha Bandopadhyay, Rupankar Bagchi and Iman Chakraborty performed. Many of the songs were composed by Mamata herself.
A dance troupe led by Dona Ganguly also performed at the inaugural event.
The chief minister donated a golden broom worth over ₹5 lakh to the Jagannath temple.
However, there was significant mismanagement in crowd control after Mamata announced that people would be allowed to visit the temple in groups. A source said once she left, hundreds entered the temple without proper police deployment to manage the crowd.
"People from all castes and creeds were present at today’s event. I welcome everyone to the temple, as it is built for you," said Mamata.
At Contai, 34km away from Digha, the leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, attended Sanatani Sammelan, a rally of Hindu monks and priests. At the rally in his hometown, Adhikari urged people to uproot the Mamata government.