Prime Minister Narendra Modi presided over the massive consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya in January 2024, exactly three months before the Lok Sabha polls.

Mamata Banerjee consecrated Jagannath Dham in Digha on April 30, 2025, exactly a year before this year’s crucial Assembly elections.

Despite a massive BJP campaign that used the Ram temple as a political tool in the 2024 elections, it failed to yield significant results with the party falling short of the majority mark and more notably, losing the Faizabad seat — which includes Ayodhya — to the Samajwadi Party.

Mamata and her Trinamool Congress left no stone unturned in their efforts to milk the hype around Jagannath Dham in Digha. After the temple’s grand inauguration, Mamata reached out to households with prasad and photographs of Jagannath Dham through the public distribution system, and invited people across the country to visit the ₹250-crore shrine, built in the likeness of Puri’s 12th-century Jagannath temple.

Amid the elections, a question has been doing the rounds in Digha’s Jagannath Dham complex, 183km from Calcutta — would it help Mamata gain a significant share of Hindu votes that had shifted to the BJP, or whether it would have an outcome similar to what the Ram temple did for Modi?

It was the afternoon of April 20 on Akshay Tritiya when this correspondent visited the Digha temple. The Digha Jagannath Dham was celebrating its first consecration anniversary.

In the past year, over 1.3 crore people have flocked to the temple.

“As Jagannath Dham completes one year, 1.33 crore people have visited the temple — not only from Bengal but from across the country. A significant number of devotees have also come from abroad,” said Radharaman Das, the chief priest and
trustee of the Digha Jagannath Dham.

A source said Mamata had planned to observe the first anniversary with much fanfare, similar to last year’s inauguration. However, the model code of conduct for the elections restrained her from visiting the temple, which was built by the state-owned West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (WBHIDCO).

The absence of the chief minister was noticeable, as the first anniversary did not draw a large crowd and remained largely ritualistic.

“It was because of the elections that many people refrained from travelling. Because of the election embargo, we could not invite chief minister Mamata Banerjee,” Das told The Telegraph.

Visitor opinion was divided on whether the temple would help Mamata woo Hindu voters amid the BJP’s campaign accusing her of minority appeasement.

Subhradeep Chakraborty, an advocate at Calcutta High Court and a resident of Baruipur, had come to visit the temple with his family.

“I believe this temple will play an important role in an electoral outcome in favour of Mamata Banerjee. If any damage or alleged attack on a temple can help the BJP consolidate Hindu votes, then constructing such a beautiful shrine can boost her attempts to court Hindus,” he said.

“Not only this temple, but she has also been building Durga Angan in New Town, which will be another attractive religious place,” Chakraborty added.

Mamata has already laid the foundation stone for Durga Angan, which is expected to be completed within two years. She has also taken the initiative to begin work on a Mahakal temple in Siliguri.

Possibly recognising the impact temple politics can have, the BJP has alleged that Mamata used money from the government exchequer — taxpayers’ money — to build the Digha shrine.

Authorities of the Jagannath temple in Puri had also alleged that the idols placed in the Digha temple were made from leftover neem wood from the original shrine in Odisha. Mamata dismissed the allegation and established the temple as a major tourist destination in Bengal.

Achintya Nayak, 57, a private tutor and farmer who visited the Digha temple with his wife Annapurna, disagreed with the idea that visitors would necessarily vote for Mamata.

“Don’t mix voting with this temple. It is a place of worship, and anyone can visit,” said Nayak, a resident of Kendua village in East Midnapore.

However, several other visitors, including a family from Odisha’s Baleswar, said they appreciated the temple, its cleanliness and the arrangements for visitors

“It is so beautiful and peaceful that we spent around two hours here. We are not voters in this state, but Didi should get support for building such a nice shrine,” said Bina Banerjee, originally from Purulia but living in Odisha’s Baleswar for the past 20 years.

While visitors remain divided, local traders said business in hospitality and other sectors had increased since the temple’s inauguration.

Manas Senapati, who sells toys on the New Digha beach, said: “My business has gone up by at least 20-30 per cent because of the large number of tourists coming to see
the temple.”

Bipradas Chakraborty, secretary of the Digha-Sankarpur Hoteliers Association, also said business had increased.

“However, it would become easier for businessmen in Digha if traffic were managed properly. During festive seasons or weekends, due to heavy rush, the administration stops buses from entering Old Digha, causing losses,” he said.

Among the political parties, the CPM had slammed Mamata for using state funds to build temples at a time there appeared to be no initiative to create jobs.

“People here want jobs, industry and economic development, which a government must ensure. Building a temple cannot be considered
as a solution to unemployment or a means to
uplift the economy,” CPM veteran and former minister Asok Bhattacharya had told this newspaper.

Trinamool and the BJP, however, remain locked in a political battle over whether Jagannath Dham will benefit Mamata electorally.

“East Midnapore’s economy has developed and over 1 crore people have visited Jagannath Dham. We believe people will support us for constructing a massive Hindu temple that has drawn devotees from across the country,” said Akhil Giri, the outgoing Ramnagar MLA and former fisheries minister. Digha falls under the Ramnagar Assembly constituency.

Somnath Roy, the BJP’s Contai organisational district president, countered this: “After appeasing Muslims for years, she built Jagannath Dham, which is nothing but a show-off. Such steps will not work, people will not trust such moves.”

• Ramnagar, under which Digha falls, votes today