Digha’s Jagannath Temple Piece Of Bengal Or Kalinga Architecture? MP Sagarika Ghose’s Controversial Post Draw Trolls

Bhubaneswar: If Rasagola vs Rosogolla tussle between Odisha and Bengal wasn’t enough for the neighboring states to assert their cultural supremacy or simply taking the credit for a sweet invention, a short-lived controversy about architecture caught attention of social media users on Thursday. The controversy surrounding the architectural style of the upcoming Jagannath temple in Bengal’s coastal town of Digha faded away, without creating much of a furor unlike the Rasagola fight, as social media user and journalist-turned-MP Sagarika Ghose deleted a post on X that had triggered a debate on the social media platform.

In barely a few minutes after Ghose had initially mentioned about the inauguration of the temple—styled as Puri’s Sri Mandir—on April 30, calling it to be a stunning piece of ‘Bengal architecture’, her post—which now stands deleted from X—started drawing criticism. She was trolled for the incorrect attribution to Bengal architecture by X users.

One of the online communities, which goes by the profile name ‘Indian Right Wing Community’ on X, promptly pointed out the flaw in her attribution to the style of architecture. “That’s not Bengal architecture. That’s Kalinga Architecture. For reference, left is Kalinga architecture, right is Bengal architecture,” the user group wrote on X while sharing photographs of structures belonging two different styles of architecture.

That’s not Bengal architecture. That’s Kalinga Architecture.

For reference, left is Kalinga architecture, right is Bengal architecture. pic.twitter.com/l1K2fi4qz3

— Indian Right Wing Community (@indianrightwing) April 16, 2025

Here’s a screenshot of the original social media post’s thumbnail:

Following such trolling, Ghose deleted her post and later wrote: “Stunning Jagannath temple in the iconic Kalinga architectural style is now complete in Bengal’s coastal town of Digha. Inauguration on April 30th. Bengal’s rich syncretic traditions and multi faith inheritance expresses itself in art, iconography and devotional centres.” She shared a video of the upcoming temple at Digha along with the post.

Stunning Jagannath temple in the iconic Kalinga architectural style is now complete in Bengal’s coastal town of Digha. Inauguration on April 30th. Bengal’s rich syncretic traditions and multi faith inheritance expresses itself in art, iconography and devotional centres. pic.twitter.com/U44I644fGf

— Sagarika Ghose (@sagarikaghose) April 17, 2025

However, she was continued to be trolled. For instance, one user, who goes by the name Soumya Ranjan Panda, wrote: “lol …. Copy cat” in the comments section of her post.

The Jagannath Temple in Digha will open on April 30, 2025. Standing 65m tall, inspired by Puri’s temple, it spans 20 acres near Digha railway station. Built with Rajasthan’s Banshi sandstone, it features Chaitanya Dwar. It is likely to host its first Rath Yatra this year.

Mamata to donate golden broom for the temple

Mamata Banerjee announced that she would donate Rs 5,00,001 for the golden broom, which will be used in the temple. “I will send the cheque from my personal account very soon,” she said, as quoted by Indian Express.

Earlier, Banerjee incorporated Kolkata’s ISKCON chief in the board of trustees of a Jagannath temple at Digha, one of her most ambitious religious projects of current times.

Will the temple be an exact copy of Puri’s temple?

Unwilling to draw comparisons with the Puri Temple of Lord Jagannath, Banerjee had earlier told reporters, “That temple was built by kings. This is built by the government. It will have adequate facilities for priests and visitors. Women from self-help groups would be allowed to undertake business activities at the site.”