Bengal to drop ‘dham’ from Digha Jagannath temple on Odisha’s CM’s request

West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday said the state government will drop the word “dham” from the Jagannath temple complex constructed by Mamata Banerjee government in East Midnapore district’s Digha, following a request from Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi.

The Jagannath Temple in Digha (ANI)

Built on the architectural lines of the iconic 12th-century Jagannath Temple in Puri, the coastal temple complex was a flagship project of the previous Trinamool Congress (TMC) government, which inaugurated it in April 2025.

“A request came from Mohan Charan Majhi, chief minister of Odisha. I have accepted the letter which he sent through Sambit Patra, MP from Puri. I have held discussions with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) authorities. The word ‘dham’, which was tagged with the Digha temple complex, is not in accordance with the Sanatan culture. The previous government built it as a cultural centre and added the word ‘dham’ to it. We would soon drop the word dham from the name,” Adhikari told reporters.

The nomenclature of the shrine has been a major bone of contention between the previous TMC government in West Bengal and the BJP-led government in Odisha, which houses the original Jagannath Dham in Puri—one of the four sacred dhams of Hinduism.

In May 2025, chief minister Majhi had written to Banerjee, urging her to refrain from using the designation for the Digha shrine.

“The puja of the holy trinity of Lord Janannath and his siblings, which is done at the Digha temple complex, will continue following sanatan culture and traditions. The complex will be known as a cultural centre. The word “dham” will be dropped,” Adhikari said.

Puri MP Sambit Patra, who was present with Adhikari at the secretariat, said the previous government’s choice had hurt religious sentiments.

“The Jagannath Dham in Puri is one of the four original dhams established by Adi Shankaracharya. Naming the new replica in Digha “dham” pained millions of devotees worldwide. Chief minister Majhi raised the issue again, and we are grateful that chief minister Adhikari has assured swift action,” Patra said.

The state-funded mega-shrine has faced multiple political and logistical controversies since its inception.

Days before its inauguration last year, Adhikari—who was then the Leader of the Opposition—had written an open letter to the state’s chief secretary demanding clarification on whether the public-funded structure was a registered religious temple or a cultural centre.

Later, allegations surfaced that sacred neem wood (daru), traditionally preserved at the Puri temple for the ritual re-deification of the idols, had been illegally procured for the Digha shrine. A subsequent investigation, however, rebutted the allegations.