Puri: Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi Monday said that Lord Jagannath was the ‘real king’ of Odisha and he is doing public service by occupying the CM’s chair.
“In Odisha, Chief Minister is not the ruler, but the Lord Himself is the real king and the CM’s seat is not a symbol of power but a means of public service,” Majhi said after being felicitated at a special function here for succeeding in deleting the word ‘Dham’ tag from the Jagannath temple at Digha in neighbouring West Bengal.
A special programme was organised by ‘Shri Jagannath Bhakta Seva Sansthan’ at the Town Hall here to felicitate Majhi for taking strong steps to protect the Jagannath culture and establish Odia identity in the world. The meeting was attended by Puri MP Sambit Patra, servitors, Jagannath culture scholars, pandits and devotees.
The speakers at the meeting praised the chief minister for the successful and historic intervention taken by him to remove the word ‘Dham’ from the name of the Jagannath Temple at Digha in West Bengal.
Majhi stated that according to the eternal culture and classical rules, Puri is the only Shri Jagannath Dham in the whole world.
“Shri Jagannath culture and tradition have its own uniqueness. I assure you here that the state government will remain vigilant like a guard for the protection, promotion of Shri Jagannath culture and preservation of the classical tradition of the temple,” the chief minister said.
Many Jagannath devotees were hurt after the then West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee named Digha Temple as ‘Jagannath Dham’, and she refused to withdraw the word ‘Dham’ despite being requested by many organisations.
However, with the change of political landscape in West Bengal, Majhi urged his counterpart, Suvendu Adhikari, who, after receiving the letter, promptly agreed to drop the word ‘Dham’ from the Digha Jagannath Temple.
Majhi said that those who have done politics of arrogance about Lord Jagannath have suffered the consequences in the elections, because there is no place for arrogance with ‘Kalia Saanta’ (Lord Jagannath).
Calling his government as a representative of ‘Odia Asmita’, Majhi reiterated his commitment to protect the classical tradition of the temple. He said that his government opened all four doors of the temple for devotees on the first day of its formation June 12, 2024 and opened the Lord’s Ratna Bhandar (treasury) for repair and inventory after a gap of 46 years.
Majhi also said that many poor devotees, who could not visit Puri temple due to different issues, have benefited through the state government’s “Shri Jagannath Darshan Yojana” scheme that provides free darshan of the Lord and partaking in Mahaprasad.
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