West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari announced on Tuesday that the state government will eliminate the term “dham” from the Jagannath temple complex in Digha, following a request from Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi.

The temple complex, designed in the architectural style of the famous 12th-century Jagannath Temple in Puri, was a key project of the former Trinamool Congress (TMC) government, which opened it in April 2025.

“A request came from Mohan Charan Majhi, Chief Minister of Odisha. I have accepted the letter which he sent through Sambit Patra, MP from Puri. I have held discussions with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) authorities. The word ‘dham’, which was tagged with the Digha temple complex, is not in accordance with the Sanatan culture. The previous government built it as a cultural centre and added the word ‘dham’ to it. We would soon drop the word dham from the name,” Adhikari stated to reporters.

The naming of the shrine has been a significant point of contention between the former TMC government in West Bengal and the BJP-led government in Odisha, which is home to the original Jagannath Dham in Puri, one of the four sacred dhams in Hinduism.

In May 2025, Chief Minister Majhi had previously written to Mamata Banerjee, asking her to stop using the term for the Digha shrine.

“The puja of the holy trinity of Lord Jagannath and his siblings, which is done at the Digha temple complex, will continue following sanatan culture and traditions. The complex will be known as a cultural centre. The word ‘dham’ will be dropped,” Adhikari confirmed.

Puri MP Sambit Patra, who was present with Adhikari at the secretariat, remarked that the previous government’s decision had offended religious sentiments.

“The Jagannath Dham in Puri is one of the four original dhams established by Adi Shankaracharya. Naming the new replica in Digha ‘dham’ pained millions of devotees worldwide. Chief Minister Majhi raised the issue again, and we are grateful that Chief Minister Adhikari has assured swift action,” Patra said.

The state-funded mega-shrine has encountered numerous political and logistical controversies since its establishment.

Just days before its inauguration last year, Adhikari, then the Leader of the Opposition, had penned an open letter to the state’s chief secretary seeking clarification on whether the publicly funded structure was a registered religious temple or merely a cultural centre.

Later, there were allegations that sacred neem wood (daru), traditionally preserved at the Puri temple for the ritual re-deification of idols, had been illegally sourced for the Digha shrine. However, a subsequent investigation disproved these allegations.