Bhubaneswar: Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Odisha MLA Jayanarayan Mishra West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Bajerjee over the tag of ‘Dham’ being attached to the new Jagannath Temple inaugurated recently at Digha.
Coming down heavily on the Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader over the issue, the former Minister said Mamata should understand that just by giving a name to the newly-built shrine her government would not be able to make it a ‘Dham.’
Noting that there have been only four ‘Dhams’ as per Sanatan Dharm in the country, Mishra said Adi Shankaracharya had created these most important sites of Hindu religion at Badrinath dham, Dwarika, Rameswaram and Puri Jagannath dham.
Though Jagannath temples can be built anywhere in the country and abroad, no other site other than Puri can be regarded as ‘dham,’ the firebrand BJP leader asserted. “By putting up hoardings, they (Bengal government) will not be able to convert the temple built at Digha into Jagannath Dham. No Jagannath Temple other than the 12th century shrine at Puri will be accepted as Dham under Sanatan Dharm,” said Mishra
Accusing Mamata of working against Hindus, he cited the recent violent incidents in Murshidabad and said just by building a temple the TMC leader cannot wash away her sins. She should first take steps to protect Hindus before building temples, he said.
