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Odisha Chief Minister on temple run, Opposition says it is for political mileage
Officials said Patnaik’s devotion to Lord Jagannath is nothing new and he always wanted to do something for development of the temple town.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik seems to be on a temple run. Early this week, Patnaik had visited the famous Maa Samaleswari temple in western district of Sambalpur to offer his prayers. Prayers over, Patnaik announced that an expert team will soon assess the requirements of the temple and the devotees and based on that the state government will take further steps.
Just about a week ago, Patnaik had visited Puri to lay the foundation stone for seven projects worth over ₹500 crore to develop the holy town into a top heritage destination. The projects in Puri are part of the ₹3,200 crore package announced by his government for infrastructure development of the temple town.
While Puri remains much of the focus of Patnaik government’s efforts to rebuild temples and heritage structures, other temples are also not being neglected. Earlier this month, during his visit to Baripada town of Mayurbhanj district, the chief minister announced a grant of ₹5 crore for the development of the temple there. In December last year, the Odisha CM had announced ₹5 crore package each for the Baladevjew temples of Kendrapara town and the 11th century Lingaraj temple in Bhubaneswar for its periphery development, including the renovation of old water tanks and some other temples.
“Ekamra Kshetra, Bhubaneswar is a prominent Shaiva Pitha in the country. Thousands of devotees come to Bhubaneswar everyday to have darshan of Lord Lingaraj. The Lingaraj temple built is the best epitome of the Utkal art form. To conserve this, we need to make some sacrifices,” Patnaik said.
Opposition leaders, however, said Patnaik’s focus on renovation of temples was to camouflage his government’s failure in solving their real-world issues. “As Marx once said religion is opium of masses, it is easy to keep the masses distracted through temples. Anyone who visit the Jagannath temple would now be dazzled by its new look. Besides, Centre has a lot of money for temples. So any state government that spends money for temples is going to be a favourite of the Centre,” said former finance minister and Congressman Panchanan Kanungo.
BJP leader and party’s state general secretary Prithviraj Harichandan said the beautification of the temples is a politically motivated move. “The chief minister is trying to make the beautification of temples a political agenda and take political mileage out of it. He has no time to concentrate on real issues and taking the shortcut to gain popularity,” alleged Harichandan.
However, leaders of Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD) say the beautification of the temples would lead to more inflow of tourists and help the state’s economy to grow. BJD vice president Debi Mishra said in Tamil Nadu that former chief minister M Karunanidhi was not a religious person, yet he spent thousands of crores in beautification of temples. “In Odisha we are proud of our temples. If we can beautify the exterior of our temples then more and more tourists will come. These temples would be our growth engines,” he said.
Former BJD minister Bijoyshree Routray said a government works simultaneously in all the aspects. “Naveen babu was always religious. He is a devotee of Lord Jagannath. To fulfil the aspirations of people of Puri, Naveen babu is taking all the steps,” he said.
Officials said Patnaik’s devotion to Lord Jagannath is nothing new and he always wanted to do something for development of the temple town.
Last month, while addressing a meeting to unveil the architectural plans of the places around the 12th century Jagannath temple, secretary (5T – Transformation & Initiatives) V Karthikeyan Pandian said he got to know of the deep devotion of the chief minister when he was accompanying him during his visit to Puri on New Year’s day in 2016. “I noticed that he frequently prayed to Lord Jagannath on seeing His images on roadside hoardings. When I saw him closing his eyes and folding his hands while praying to the Lord along the 60-km stretch, I realised his ardent devotion to the Lord. Our CM is the biggest bhakt of Lord Jagannath,” Pandian had told the meeting.
The state government is on an overdrive in beautification of the area around Jagannath temple in Puri before the Nagarjuna besha in November 27 this year, when the three deities would be attired in the costume of warriors. It was in November 1993 when the last Nagarjuna besha was held. In a record four months, the government acquired 15 acres of land including 12.5 acres from private persons around the temple for construction of the heritage corridor that includes meditation place and market complex.
