July 14, 2025
Daige – Bangladeshis always flock to Digha, a coastal resort in West Bengal, India. But now, new attractions prove to be a hot attraction for thousands of visitors.
This is Jagannath Dham, a rich sandstone temple dedicated to Lord Jagannath, a beloved deity in Bengal whose awkward chariot lies at the origin of the English word “Juggernaut”.
Among the thousands of visitors on July 5 are Sari Clad Sandhya Dutta, 45, who is busy taking selfies against the temple’s towering 65 million central complex.
“The possibility of seeing such a beautiful temple in Digha makes this place different,” said Mrs. Duta. “With this temple, I feel like I’m here again.”
Jagannath Dham was built by the state government for a cost of Rs 2.5 crore (S$37.3 million) (S$37.3 million) and opened with great fanfare in April 2025.
In an attempt by the opposition in West Bengal to rule the entire Indian Congress (TMC), the opposition party (TMC), who ruled West Bengal, mobilized the support of Hindus when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accused the party of Muslims. The BJP is trying to replace its rivals from power in the state election in early 2026.
It turns out that building temples is a key way for political parties to attract Indian votes.
Mr. Akhilesh Yadav, the leader of the Samajwadi Party (SP), is another major opposition force in Uttar Pradesh State – responsible for overseeing the party’s construction of a major temple in the party’s traditional fortress in the Etawah region, ahead of the 2027 General Assembly elections.
While the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP has long been known to use its support for temples to get votes from Hindus, for other Indian parties, other Indian parties that cater to the religious sentiments of Hindus have become increasingly important to cater to Indian parties (or at least considered as dining). They make up 80% of the country’s population.
“Under the BJP, faith has become a way to mobilize the Indian people,” said senior political commentator Ms. Saba Naqvi, who noted that this is especially true given the lack of meaningful socio-economic empowerment, while marginalized Hindu castes remain trapped at the bottom of the ladder.
Ms. Naqvi told the Straits Times: “Temples, on the other hand, are a place that is open to all. They are a place where they are equally involved. On the edge of the caste, people feel like insiders when they go there and participate in large-scale worship.”
Today, the rise of the BJP’s popularity in the 1990s is due to the shaping of its voice tendencies, which is the sound of the great temple dedicated to the Hindu god Ram for Ayodhya.
Its senior leader LK Advani toured the country in 1990 to build such temples on the ruins of the 16th-century Babri Mosque and support the public, believed to be the birthplace of Lord Ram.
The mosque was demolished by Hindu mobs in 1992, giving way to a protracted legal battle on fiercely contested sites. It ended when the Supreme Court detained the site to Hindus in 2019 and cleared the road to the temple.
The opening of a ram temple at the site – a commitment first made in the 1996 BJP election manifesto marked the high point of the party, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi presided over the inauguration of the temple in January 2024.
Its results even form a key board for the party’s voter propaganda during the election later in 2024, which brought the BJP back to power, despite a drastically reduced seats in parliament.
The BJP continues to deploy its temple strategy, investing heavily in the development of temple towns such as Varanasi and Mathura in the northern northern region.
According to a July 9 report on online news portal News18, it recently announced a “Mission Temple” campaign aimed at rejuvenating ancient temples across the state.
In West Bengal, TMC did not hesitate to forget it to take advantage of Jagannath Temple. The road from Kolkata to Digha (about 190 km) is lined with banners paved by state government and TMC leaders, and visitors are welcome to the Lord Jagannath’s Chariot Festival held at the temple from June 27 to July 5.
The state’s chief minister, Ms. Mamata Banerjee, laughed, and her palms added banners to the banner together. Namastertraditional Hindu posture.
The party’s temple propaganda reached over 10 million households across the state, distributing sacred products and packing them in a box with a postcard that includes printed greetings from Ms. Banerjee, as well as photos of God and Temple.
In Digha, visitors are obviously happy. “We are Hindus. If a temple is built, we will definitely welcome it wherever we are.” Mr. Sumanta Mondal, a 48-year-old West Bengal farmer, said he came from Bankura with his family, nearly 180 km. “It would be even better if I created a person in my area. I don’t have to go that far.”
Ms. Banerjee and her party supporters were delighted.
Ms. Bhabani Das is a municipal contract health worker in her 50s in the North 24 Parganas district and he is happy to visit Jagannath Temple in Digha because she has no time or money to visit Jagannath Temple in the 12th century, while Jagannath Temple is further away in Puri, Odisha State. The temple in Digha is the more famous temple in Puri.
“May her life span increase for years with the amount of hair on my head,” Ms. Darth said. She showed her left arm with the name “Mamata” on it, which said “Mamata”, which showed her support for the state’s chief minister.
In recent years, the BJP has become West Bengal’s largest opposition party, with the TMC’s dominance posed an increasingly serious threat as it gains support from more Hindus voters.
This prompted the TMC to change its wit and mobilize the support of Hindus by placing its weight after local Hindu festivals such as Tribeni Kumbh Mela, and now the construction of the main temple dedicated to Lord Jagannath.
Ms. Nakwi said: “With this temple, Mamata seems to be telling the BJP and her critics that I am also a guardian of faith. Who are you?”
The BJP passed the goal of calling her a “fake Hindu” and pointed out that government funds cannot be used to build temples. It even claims that the sacred devotion of the Jagannath Temple sent by the TMC was made by Muslims.
In Uttar Pradesh, the SP’s move to build temples was also intended to respond to the BJP’s narrative, accusing it of leaning towards Muslim sentiment while ignoring the Hindus.
Modeled by Kedarnath Temple in Uttarakhand, a key pilgrimage site with Hindus, the trust led by Mr. Yadav built the Kedareshwar Mahadev Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva.
Mr Yadav laid the cornerstone in 2021, which was Mr Modi doing the same seven months for Ayodhya’s Ram Temple.
The Kedareshwar Mahadev Temple is scheduled to be completed in 2026, just before the next state election in the second year. Yadavs also sees its openness as an attempt to claim Indian belief. Yadavs in Uttar Pradesh are formally seen as “other backward classes”, a group that includes marginalized castes and disadvantaged communities.
In May 2024, Mr Yadav visited a temple in Kannauj, and later, viral videos allegedly showed that BJP workers used the Ganges to wash the temple from the Ganges to “purify” the temple. SP used the incident to portray BJP as a political party that did not support the interests of marginalized caste groups.
Congress, India’s main opposition party? Although its leader, Rahul Gandhi, visited the temple during the 2024 election campaign, no such high-profile temple construction plans have been launched.
For all buildings and fierce competition, the temple’s strategy does have its limitations – it becomes obvious when the BJP lost its rival SP, including Ayodhya, in Faizabad, including Ayodhya.
Marginalized Hindu caste groups gather around the SP because they fear that the BJP (if the majority) would change the constitution and dilute the work assigned to them. Anger at unemployment is another factor in the loss of the BJP.
The SP candidate won by 54,567 votes, suggesting religion is just one of many factors in which Indian voters line up to elect leaders.
