The Opposition in Bengal stepped up its attack on Mamata Banerjee over the use of taxpayer money to build the Jagannath Dham in Digha, which she is set to inaugurate on Wednesday.
The BJP has also mocked the chief minister for her alleged attempt to balance minority appeasement with majority outreach. The CPM and the Congress have accused both Mamata and the BJP of indulging in a contest to communalise the politics of this essentially pluralist state.
The BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari underscored the formal invitation from H.K. Dwivedi, the vice-chairperson of the state-run West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco) that built the temple at a cost of around ₹250 crore, which mentions a “pran pratishtha (consecration)” ceremony.
“The tender documents of Hidco say “Jagannath Dham Sanskriti Kendra”, a cultural centre, has been built at Digha. Is that being inaugurated? Or is the so-called temple being consecrated?” asked Adhikari, going on to make communally tainted remarks. The Digha temple, according to BJP sources, has particularly irked the Nandigram MLA as it is on its home turf East Midnapore and he remains unsure of its electoral impact.
“This so-called temple was announced by her (while) the Ram temple (was being built) in Ayodhya. Now, she (Mamata) is so enthusiastic only because she is scared of Hindus uniting against her minority appeasement…. The Puri temple is one of Hinduism’s Chaturdham (four abodes), and cannot be replicated,” he added. “This entire Digha matter is an exercise in smoke and mirrors…. They are toying with the faith of Hindus.”
The BJP has repeatedly pointed out that the Ram temple at Ayodhya was built by a trust and not a government.
The CPM’s Rajya Sabha member Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya, a senior advocate in Calcutta High Court, said the decision by a government to construct a temple or any other place of worship is contrary to the Constitution.
“A government, which had taken the oath to obey the Constitution, cannot construct a place of worship. Article 27 of the Constitution clearly says that the state cannot construct a place of worship by spending money from the government exchequer,”
said Bhattacharyya.
The Congress chief spokesperson for Bengal, Soumya Aich Roy, tore into the “shamelessness” of both Mamata and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“A government’s dharma is sarva dharma sama bhaav (equal respect for all religions). What they are up to is government-backed competitive religious fundamentalism, poisoning the state and the nation,” he said.
“Real people’s issues of ruti-ruji-bashosthan (food, job, shelter) are being forced into the sidelines. Migrant workers, unemployment, de-industrialisation… brain drain, flight of capital,” added Aich Roy. “Will our boys and girls in the future beg outside temples and mosques?”
TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh dismissed the criticism, attributing it to the Opposition’s alleged loss of sleep because of Mamata’s success in setting up the Jagannath Dham. Ghosh underscored Mamata’s Hindu Brahmin identity while asserting how truly secular she has been in her politics and policy.
Political scientists said there are considerations operational and ethical in this discourse, of which the source of funds is on the operational side.
The ethical consideration, they said, is more important in a secular republic.
“The Congress and the CPM would call this majority appeasement. Mamata might argue this is for the uplift of tourism and regional economy…. What is the BJP saying? Only the operational things, as they are unable to oppose this on their foundational philosophy of Hindu nationalism,” said senior political scientist Subhamoy Maitra.
“The main question now ought to be how interested our state or nation remains in the building of hospitals, factories, schools, compared to building temples, mosques, churches, synagogues…,” added Maitra. “All these discussions are now abstract, far removed from the real necessities of daily life, on which neither the ruling dispensation in the state nor the Centre is visibly keen to waste time.”
