West Bengal: Will happy pilgrims make happier voters?

The Bharatiya Janata Party is groping for a suitable response to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s debut into ‘hard Hindutva temple politics’ after she inaugurated in Digha a replica of the Jagannath Dham temple at Puri.

Building new temples, promoting religious tourism, and pilgrimage sites for devout Hindus was until now the monopoly of the mosaic of organisations claiming ownership of Hindutva. To the BJP’s acute discomfiture, Mamata Banerjee has emerged the winner in the slugfest over ‘uniting’ Hindu votes.

The BJP state leadership, including leader of the opposition in the West Bengal assembly , have been unexpectedly thrown a challenge that they do not know how to meet and defeat. Digha, as the site of the temple, is a significant part of the challenge; its location in East Midnapore is considered the fiefdom of the Adhikari clan. It is nothing short of a declaration of war in the intensely competitive politics of West Bengal.

Realising that the state leadership was no match for Mamata Banerjee, the BJP’s national leaders stepped in to question the authenticity of the deity. They charged the temple builders with stealing wood from the original Jagannath Dham in Puri; they also doubted the sanctity of the temple. They even vociferously protested the violation of secular principles that form the basic structure of the Constitution and accused the West Bengal CM of squandering the taxpayers’ money.

A moment to be cherished forever.

The first glimpse of Lord Jagannath enshrined in the Garbhagriha of the Jagannath Temple in Digha will remain etched in my heart.

I felt my spirit stir with the divine radiance emanating from the sacred idol. I had the privilege of performing… pic.twitter.com/EYLaTycYaN

— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) April 30, 2025

There was another, probably tactical, reason for the BJP national leadership to wade into the controversy — the temple in Digha they feared, wrongly, would rival the original in Puri, ending its monopoly and shrinking the revenue stream that pilgrims finance.

Government financing of temples is not permissible. In 1947, long before the Constitution was written and adopted, Gandhiji insisted that public funds should be collected for the reconstruction of the Somnath Temple in Dwarka, Gujarat. A specific trust was set up and the Somnath Temple was rebuilt on the basis of a decision adopted by the new nation’s government.

Banerjee has disregarded the fundamental principle that precedents reflect a common understanding, as the Digha temple was built using government funds. She has, however, followed in the footsteps of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and like the PM, who officially consecrated the Ram Lalla temple in Ayodhya, she chose to consecrate the temple at Digha.

By roping in senior servitor Ramkrushna Das Mohapatra from Puri, and an array of other religious leaders including some from ISKCON, Banerjee believes she has neutralised the BJP’s single most effective slur of against her. She said as much in Digha: “It has got under the BJP’s skin.”

The temple, she also hopes, will cancel public perception promoted by BJP propaganda that she is anti-Hindu, giving precedence to Muslims celebrating Eid on Kolkata’s roads, organising Muharram processions, and blocking traffic flow on Fridays.

Mamata Banerjee’s temple politics carry the potential to polarise, representing her bid to weaken the BJP by reclaiming a segment of Hindu voters who had drifted away from the Trinamool Congress, repulsed by her efforts to ‘appease’ Muslims and woo the Islamic clergy.

By installing herself as the unofficial sponsor and guardian of the Digha temple, Banerjee has countered the BJP’s campaign that temples are being demolished in rural Bengal under her watch.

If her gambit succeeds and the Hindu vote base is fragmented, the BJP has only itself to blame; it used fear by stoking anxiety and campaigning that Hindus were in danger of being outnumbered by illegal Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh. It went too far when Amit Shah claimed during his campaign that the West Bengal government had allegedly hindered the celebration of festivals like Durga Puja, Kali Puja and Saraswati Puja.

The acid test for who wins this toxic game will be the 2026 assembly elections. If some Hindu voters move away from the BJP, it would benefit Banerjee. Increased polarisation, however, could simply put voters off both parties.