Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee too has a mandir to take pride on now. The chief minister on Wednesday sneaked into the proverbial “Mandir politics” by inaugurating a gigantic replica of Puri’s Jagannath Temple an Rs 250 crore state-funded project at the popular beach town of Digha on Bay of Bengal. The temple a grand replica of the Puri’s ancient Jagannath Temple has been constructed by the West Bengal Housing and Urban Development Corporation Ltd.

This, even as a frantic BJP continued to question why in a “secular” country the state would fund religious enterprise. Banerjee on her part added salt to BJP’s injury by receiving senior saffron leader and former state president Dilip Ghosh at the guest house of the Digha temple where he came with his newly married wife and praised its “exquisite architectural style.”

Banerjee who chose the auspicious occasion of Akshay Tritiya to inaugurate the grand facsimile of the Puri’s iconic ancient structure prayed for “universal peace.” Built after an unadulterated Kalinga school of architecture the Digha Jagannath temple exactly mirrors the ancient Puri temple. Additionally it dominates the sea barely a few hundred away and the verdant acres around making the site an absolute dekho for the world tourists.

“I pray for universal peace this day of inauguration on the Akshay Tritiya and hope that this temple will continue to inspire spirituality and send religious waves for thousands of years… and will continue to stir creativity, touristic and architectural imaginations,” the Chief Minister said adding, “I pray for universal peace by the grace of Lord Jagannath.”

The Chief Minister also wrote, “Today, as the sacred Dhwaja rose above the Jagannath Temple in Digha, I witnessed a vision conceived in 2018 come to life. With the Maha Yajna complete, we wait with bated breath for the Lord of the Universe to grace His humble abode by the sea. May His presence usher in harmony, strength and enduring peace for all.”

The temple was opened for the general public from Wednesday evening and all the daily religious affairs would be looked after by the International Society of Krishna Consciousness. 

The Trinamool Congress wrote in its official handle, “Today, the grand Shri Jagannath Temple opens its gates to the world, a divine blend of spirituality, heritage, & Bengal’s cultural soul. A sacred legacy begins today, one that will inspire generations to come!”

While the critics called the construction and imagination of the grand temple — as dominating as the ancient original structure of Puri “a smart beginning for the 2026 Assembly elections,” BJP continued to fume wondering why instead of visiting the riot torn areas Murshidabad the Chief Minister was playing politics using State funds.

“The Chief Minister has used the tax payers money to construct the Jagannath Temple unlike the Ram Temple at Ayodhya which has been constructed with the funds donated by the devotees… if it is not playing politics with religion then what is,” asked BJP State president Sukanto Majumdar. The BJP also asked “why the Chief Minister has yet not visited the desecrated temples of Murshidabad… this is because she would not dare anger her vote bank… what she is doing in Digha is because she is afraid that the Hindu voters have now started getting alienated.”

Curiously Banerjee also asked the State Information and Culture Department to dispatch prasadam and a picture card of the temple to every household in the state. “I will request the I&C Department to send the picture and prasadam of the temple to every household in the state as also to the renowned people throughout India who praise such kind of works.

Apart from her bid to hijack some part of the “temple card” from the saffrons Banerjee also hit a second bird by receiving on Wednesday senior BJP leader and former State party president and MP Dilip Ghosh at the guest house of the Jagannath Temple almost creating a flutter in the State BJP ranks. More so when the saffron leader — who is often credited with taking BJP from a two-seat status to an 18-parliamentary seat grade between 2016 and 2019 — praised Banerjee for her imagination. “This is a genuinely good work and deserves praise… the temple has been exquisitely built,” he said before meeting the Chief Minister for more than 25 minutes along with his wife.

Other Opposition leaders including Suvendu Adhikari, Majumdar, Congress’ Pradip Bhattacharya and others including the Left leadership who too were invited in the ceremony skipped the function.

When asked to comment on Dilip Ghosh’s visit to the temple, a visibly disturbed Adhikari said, “I am here to speak about my job as an Opposition Leader or to support my party line or react to the statements, corruption, misrule etc of the Chief Minister and none else… for someone’s personal acts it is for him or the party to respond.”