Published By : Kalpit Mohanty
| May 6, 2025 11:30 AM
Bhubaneswar: “They took rosogolla, now they want Jagannath” — this one-liner, posted by an angry Bhubaneswar netizen on X (formerly Twitter), sums up the emotions currently running high across Odisha. The inauguration of the ‘Jagannath Dham’ replica in Digha, West Bengal, by the Bengal government has triggered a fresh cultural firestorm between the two eastern neighbours. While Bengal is presenting it as a tribute to the Jagannath culture revered by many Bengalis, people in Odisha are seeing red — and not without precedent.
For many Odias, this feels like déjà vu. Just like the Geographical Indication (GI) tag controversy around rosogolla in 2017, when Bengal claimed the sweet was theirs, the new temple in Digha is being perceived as another attempt to appropriate Odisha’s deep-rooted cultural heritage.
“They keep packaging our legacy as their own,” said Satyabrata Mishra, a Bhubaneswar-based teacher. “First rosogolla, then claiming the Bengal famine of 1943 was theirs alone — when it affected Odisha too — and now building a Jagannath Dham. How much more do we tolerate?”
Social media is flooded with memes, rage posts, and even poetic rants. A user posted: “What next? They’ll say Konark Sun Temple was built by Tagore?”
Online backlash has taken over local Odia spaces on Facebook, Instagram, and X. Hashtags like #HandsOffJagannath, #OdishaCultureNotForSale, and #DighaDhamDrama are trending regionally.
While some Bengal voices insist it’s merely religious inclusivity, many Odias see this as part of a pattern of subtle cultural takeover. This time, however, the flashpoint is particularly sensitive — Lord Jagannath is not just a deity in Odisha; He is an identity.
Priests and religious scholars from Puri have voiced their concern too. “Replicating the temple is not the same as building a shrine,” said Mahaprasad Das, a senior servitor at the Jagannath Temple in Puri. “The rituals, the sanctity, the history of the Lord in Odisha are rooted in millennia. You cannot just install a murti and call it Jagannath Dham.”
Another senior pundit added, “If tomorrow someone builds a fake Vatican, will Christians around the world accept it? Culture must be respected, not recreated for political tourism.”
Beyond faith, historians and cultural commentators in Odisha have been highlighting a longstanding neglect of Odia contributions in the larger Eastern Indian narrative.“There is a tendency to absorb what is nearby and call it local,” said Dr. S. Tripathy, professor of cultural studies at Utkal University. “Rosogolla was documented in Odisha’s temple tradition before it was commercialized in Kolkata. The Bengal famine severely impacted coastal Odisha, but it was branded as Bengal’s alone in history books. And now, Jagannath.”
But the public isn’t merely angry — they’re asking for institutional action. Several student bodies have demanded that Odisha’s tourism department file formal objections, and a few lawyers have floated the idea of seeking constitutional protection for unique cultural markers.
Even casual passers-by at Bhubaneswar's Master Canteen or Cuttack's Buxi Bazaar are talking about the issue. A young entrepreneur, Sasmita Nayak, posted on LinkedIn:“Branding is identity. You don’t let someone trademark your soul. Jagannath belongs to Odisha — not as a matter of pride, but of truth.”
As the debate continues to grow, one thing is clear — Jagannath is more than just a religious symbol. For Odias, He is emotion, culture, community, and sovereignty. And this time, they’re not going to let Him be “borrowed.”
