The Trinamul Congress is leaving no stone unturned to reap political dividends from Wednesday’s massive Jagannath Temple consecration ceremony in Digha, aiming to woo Hindu voters at a time when the BJP has staked its claim on the majority vote bank ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls.

Multiple sources in the TMC said the move and its plan to promote the consecration ceremony by Mamata Banerjee were closely aligned with the efforts of the BJP and the saffron ecosystem surrounding Ayodhya’s Ram Temple consecration ceremony by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 22 last year before the 2024general elections.

Then, apart from the BJP, several like-minded outfits such as the RSS and Vishwa Hindu Parishad actively promoted the Ram Temple initiative.

As the TMC lacks such affiliated organisations, the party and the state government have jointly made efforts to reach out to people from the districts to the gram panchayats.

“Setting up Jagannath Dham is a historical milestone, and it was Didi’s brainchild. The party has instructed its leaders from all spheres to reach every corner of the state to inform people about the majestic temple built on the seashore of Digha,” said Tanmoy Ghosh, a TMC state general secretary, who also oversees the party’s organisational affairs in East Midnapore.

The state government has organised livestreaming of the consecration ceremony in most blocks. TMC leaders have been asked to arrange religious processions with idols or photographs of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra, along with cutouts of the chief minister and Digha’s Jagannath Dham at the gram panchayat, block, subdivision and district levels.

To counter Mamata’s Jagannath Dham inauguration, the chief minister’s archrival, Suvendu Adhikari, is planning to launch the renovation of many old temples in his hometown Contai on Wednesday. A single judge bench of Calcutta High Court granted him permission for the event with certain riders. The state government late on Tuesday challenged the order. The high court is likely to hear the case on Wednesday.

“What you are calling massive arrangements (livestreaming, et al) were necessary, as not everyone from Bengal could witness the event in person,” added Ghosh.

In many places, temple priests will be felicitated and “prasad” distributed.

On Tuesday, the mahayajna held in Digha with Mamata’s participation was livestreamed on giant screens across many places in Bengal, including Calcutta.

“People from different places and religions came to Digha. The right to practise religion can’t be the sole authority of anyone. If you see it through your heart, then all people can visit all (religious) places,” Mamata told reporters after participating in the pre-consecration ceremony at Jagannath Dham.

However, the TMC will not livestream the rituals in minority-dominated blocks in districts such as Murshidabad and Malda.

In Murshidabad, the live-streaming and celebration of the Jagannath Dham inauguration will only be held in four towns — Behrampore, Kandi, Jiaganj and Murshidabad — which have a prominent Hindu voter base. In the 2021 Assembly polls, the BJP won in Behrampore and Murshidabad out of the district’s 22 seats.

In districts like Purulia, TMC leaders have asked grassroots workers to organise pujas in all local temples.

“We have seven Jagannath temples in our district, where we will organise special pujas on Wednesday. Apart from those, party workers have been asked to do the same in every temple in their area, regardless of the deity,” said Soumen Belthoria, TMC president in Purulia.

Political scientist Biswanath Chakraborty said it was too early to say whether Mamata’s large-scale efforts to woo Hindu voters through the Jagannath Dham would work in the 2026 polls. “The politics of religion can shift with a new incident or development. Amid incidents of riots in Murshidabad and Malda, Mamata Banerjee’s efforts are significant. But this may change at any time. Her advantage is that the BJP’s (grassroots) organisation (in Bengal) remains weak,” said Chakraborty. “Beyond temple politics, she must take a strong position regarding governance after the Supreme Court scrapped the jobs of thousands of school teachers. Otherwise, this attempt to woo Hindu voters will not work.”

CPM leader Sujan Chakraborty said Mamata was following Modi’s strategy. “What she is doing is similar to what Modi did before the 2024 elections.... It is unfortunate that she has planned these celebrations while jobless teachers are protesting on the streets and Murshidabad’s people are suffering after the recent violence,” he said.

BJP Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya taunted: “Let her make one last attempt with the help of Lord Jagannath. We all know her time is over, and Bengal’s people — Hindu or Muslim — are ready to throw her out of power in 2026.”