Hotel fire: People bearing consequences of Bengal CM's bid to rival Puri’s sacred Jagannath Dham, says Malviya 

Kolkata, April 30 (IANS) The BJP’s Information Technology cell chief and the party’s central observer for West Bengal, Amit Malviya on Wednesday morning issued a loaded message on the devastating fire at a hotel on Madan Mohan Burman Street in central Kolkata and asked if the people of West Bengal were bearing the consequences of Mamata Banerjee’s attempt to rival Puri’s sacred Jagannath Dham. 

The fire in the six-floor hotel that broke out on Tuesday night killing 14 people till Wednesday morning, coincided with the inauguration of the Lord Jagannath Temple at Digha in East Midnapore district of West Bengal which has been modelled after the iconic Shree Jagannath Dham temple at Puri in Odisha.

Malviya’s message comes when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is herself at Digha, almost with her entire Cabinet, for the inauguration of the temple.

In the message posted on his official X handle, Malviya questioned whether the people of West Bengal were bearing the consequences of Mamata Banerjee’s 'audacious' and 'irreverent' attempt to rival Puri’s sacred Jagannath Dham.

“First, the devastating Kalbaisakhi storm wreaked havoc in Digha on April 26 and now the fire just before the inauguration of Mamata Banerjee’s Jagannath Temple on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya.

"Is it that the people of West Bengal are now bearing the consequences of Mamata Banerjee’s audacious and irreverent attempt to rival Puri’s sacred Jagannath Dham, the divine abode of Prabhu Jagannath and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu?

"Prabhu Jagannath does not reside where falsehood, fraud, and selfishness reign. This should be understood as His message,” read Malviya’s post on X.

According to Malviya, it was unfortunate that tragic incidents continued to recur in Kolkata due to a lack of government maintenance, absence of fire safety equipment, poor urban planning, and unchecked illegal activities by the promoter lobby.

Earlier also, controversies surfaced over the Digha temple as Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly challenged the Chief Minister's claims that the Lord Jagannath temple in Digha has been modelled after the iconic Puri Temple.

LoP Adhikari challenged the Chief Minister to clarify why the proposed temple had been named Jagannath Dham Cultural Centre and not Shree Jagannath Temple.

"The Chief Minister should immediately give instructions so that the name is changed from 'Jagannath Dham Cultural Centre' to 'Shree Jagannath Temple' in all the related state government documents.

"The name change should also be made in the tenders and documents of the WBHIDCO, responsible for the construction of the proposed temple at Digha, the cost of which is borne from the state government’s exchequer," the LoP claimed.