Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government is examining steps to initiate legal action over West Bengal using ‘Dham’ tag for the recently-inaugurated Jagannath temple at Digha which has triggered widespread outrage among devotees.
Law Minister Prithviraj Harichandan on Thursday said that the state government is weighing legal steps as West Bengal is yet to respond to Odisha’s request to stop using ‘Dham’ term for the new shrine at Digha.
Though Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi had written a letter to his Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee requesting for the removal of ‘Dham’ term, no step has so far been taken by the neighbouring state in this regard.
In view of the situation, the Odisha government will pursue legal options and discussions are underway to finalise the nature of the legal steps to be taken, the Minister said.
A raging controversy has erupted after West Bengal government named the new complex at Digha as ‘Jagannath Dham’ ignoring the historical and spiritual fact that Odisha’s Puri is recognised as one of the Char Dhams of Hinduism. Odisha government has made it clear that no shrine other than the Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri can be considered as ‘Dham.’
The CM had earlier written to Mamata seeking the removal of the term ‘Dham’ from the Digha temple’s name. The title ‘Jagannath Dham’ is sacred and exclusively associated with Puri and use of this term for another temple deeply hurts the religious sentiments of millions of devotees and causes unnecessary confusion, Majhi had said.
Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb, who is the chairman of Shree Jagannath Temple Managing Committee, Puri, has strongly objected to the use of ‘Dham’ word for Digha temple. No place other than Puri can be called Dham, he stated, citing scriptural authority and the endorsement of the Mukti Mandap Pandit Sabha of Shree Jagannath Temple.
Jagadguru Shankaracharya of Puri Swami Nischalanand has also stated that it is inappropriate to use Dham tag for Digha shrine. Jagannath Dham exists only in Puri, known as Shree Kshetra and Purushottam Kshetra, he has said.
