Kolkata, April 30 Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday entrusted the state information and cultural affairs department with the responsibility of ensuring that the pictures of the idol of Lord Jagannath and the ‘prasad’ from the Digha temple in East Midnapore district, are sent to every home in West Bengal.
“Apart from that, the pictures of the deity and the prasad will be delivered to the homes of important personalities in the country,” Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced after the inauguration of the temple.
The temple is modelled after the iconic Shree Jagannath Dham temple at Puri in Odisha.
However, she did not specify whether the “eminent personalities” include Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, other members of the Union Cabinet, and national-level BJP leaders.
Incidentally, the Chief Minister is herself in charge of the state information and cultural affairs department with singer-turned-politician Indranil Sen being the Minister of State for that department.
“We will make all attempts to ensure that the pictures of the idol of Lord Jagannath Temple and prasad from this temple, are delivered to every single home in the state. I entrust the state information and cultural affairs department with this responsibility,” Chief Minister Banerjee said.
Political observers said that involving the state department might result in yet another controversy since ideally no government department can directly be involved in the affairs of any religious institution.
According to CPI-M Central Committee member Sujan Chakraborty, the entire action proves how the Trinamool Congress, like the BJP, is trying to exploit religion for the sake of politics.
“The task of any government is to ensure jobs for unemployed youths and ensure that appointment letters reach their doorsteps. Instead of that, the Chief Minister is speaking of sending prasad to their doorsteps. This proves how both Trinamool Congress and the BJP are using religion for their political gains,” he said.
BJP spokesman from West Bengal, Rajarshi Lahiri, questioned the true identity of the structure at Digha, considering that as per official records of the state government, the structure has been named as the Jagannath Dham Cultural Centre.
The West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Company had been the implementing agency for the construction of the temple.
“Is the Chief Minister describing this structure as a temple? Is it mentioned as a temple as per official records?” Lahiri questioned.
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