The leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, on Friday said that the Bengal government would distribute locally made sweets as prasad from the Jagannath Dham in Digha across the state, claiming that it was a fresh move by Mamata Banerjee to hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus.

After inaugurating the Jagannath temple in Digha on April 30, the chief minister had instructed the information and cultural affairs department to deliver prasad and photographs of the new shrine to every household across Bengal.

The government has decided to deliver a packet containing a piece of pada and gaja (traditional Indian sweetmeats), along with a photograph of Digha’s Jagannath Dham, through its flagship public distribution system, Duare Ration (ration on the doorstep).

Adhikari said a government circular sent to district magistrates specified that the sweets to be delivered as prasad would be procured from local sweetmeat shops. The government has fixed the price of each packet at ₹20.

“This is a serious blow to the faith of Hindus, as they have named these two sweets purchased from local shops as prasad. I urge those who are genuinely Hindu to treat this as sweets sent by Mamata Banerjee, not as prasad,” said Adhikari.

The government will begin distributing the packets from June 17 and has instructed officials to complete the delivery before July 4.

Adhikari said he had no objection to the government charging people for the sweets and photographs, as the “government’s exchequer is empty”.

“We are exposing the falsehood of the chief minister, as she has repeatedly hurt Hindu sentiment. The government is using the public distribution system to deliver sweets as prasad in a desperate attempt to divide Hindu votes. The chief minister has repeatedly hurt the faith of Hindu people,” said the Nandigram MLA.

The minister of state for information and cultural affairs, Indranil Sen, said the main ingredients of the prasad would be sent to local manufacturers after offering them to Lord Jagannath at the Digha temple. “The local sweet shop owners will then use these ingredients to prepare the prasad,” said Sen, whose department was tasked with sending the prasad to

On June 9 and 10, administrations in various districts have called meetings with local ration dealers regarding the distribution of prasad and photographs of the Jagannath Dham.

Multiple sources said the grand inauguration of the temple and the plan to deliver prasad and photographs of Jagannath Dham was a masterstroke by the Mamata Banerjee government to woo Hindu voters at a time when the Opposition BJP was aggressively trying to consolidate the Hindu vote bank and accusing the ruling party of minority appeasement.

Sources said Mamata’s move to distribute prasad and photographs mirrors the approach taken by the RSS ahead of the consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 22, 2024.

However, in the case of the Ram Temple, members of the saffron ecosystem had delivered prasad door-to-door themselves, unlike the Jagannath Dham initiative, where the government is using the public distribution system.

A source in the Trinamool Congress said, Mamata was scheduled to inaugurate the Ratha Yatra in Digha, scheduled for June 27. A fresh step to send a message towards the Hindu community people that the BJP's narrative of appeasement was not right. The government has already launched bus services to connect Digha with multiple north and south Bengal districts recently for better transportation.

“The Jagannath temple is just 40km from his home in Contai. If he were a genuine Hindu, why didn’t he consider visiting the temple at least once to pay his respects? He has opposed the Jagannath Dham since its inception,” said TMC leader Kunal Ghosh.

“The issue of delivering prasad is entirely a matter for the state government. Mamata Banerjee has ensured that prasad reaches doorsteps, and that will be followed. I ask him (Adhikari) to leave the distribution policy to the government,” Ghosh added.

Many have raised questions about whether people of all communities and religions will receive the prasad under the Duare Ration scheme.

Adhikari said: “Since government funds are being used and the sweets are not prasad in the true sense, people from all religions and communities should receive them."

Covid data

Suvendu Adhikari accused the Mamata Banerjee government of suppressing the recent rise in Covid-19 cases by disabling the health department portal. He claimed that although the situation was not alarming, the government should disclose real-time data of such cases. In Malda, the health department has been detecting nine positive cases out of every ten samples tested.