Sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene and direct the Bengal government to drop the “Jagannath Dham” tag from the newly inaugurated Jagannath temple in Digha.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Pattnaik wrote: “While the construction of a temple dedicated to Mahaprabhu Shree Jagannath is truly commendable, the reference to it as ‘Jagannath Dham’ has deeply hurt the religious sentiments of millions of His devotees.”

Pattnaik, a former member of the Shree Jagannath Temple Management Committee, also posted an image of the temple signage on his social media handle, describing the Digha shrine as “Jagannath Dham”. He said the title is sacred and traditionally associated with the 12th-century temple in Puri.

“The Prime Minister’s intervention is necessary to preserve the sanctity of the cherished religious identity,” he wrote.

The Odisha government, Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb, and religious heads have already objected to the nomenclature. Jyotirmath Shankaracharya Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati also said, “There is only one Jagannath Dham — in Puri. The temple in Bengal should not be called so.”