Naveen Patnaik’s temple facelift: Economic sense or lasting legacy?
BHUBANESWAR: For the first time in his tenure as Odisha’s chief minister, Naveen Patnaik has been placing huge importance on beautification of ancient temples and improving amenities around prominent shrines. While on the one hand it enhances his legacy and creates lasting impression in the minds of people, on the other it makes great economic sense, as an improved experience for devotees and visitors to places of religious worship can translate into economic gains. There is also a third aspect to it, and many feel this push for shrine management could be a way to counter the growing BJP narrative that centres around temples.
“If you invest in religious places, you will be remembered for centuries. This could be a well-thought plan in a state known for its temples,” said Amareswar Mishra, a retired professor of political science at Utkal University.
Months after coming to power for a fifth successive term, Naveen announced a heritage corridor project for the 12th century Jagannath Temple in Puri, a project similar in vision and scope to the Kashi Vishwanath project in Uttar Pradesh. This was followed by a similar project for the 11th century Lingaraj shrine in Bhubaneswar. On Wednesday, the government unveiled a Rs 200 crore project for Samaleswari Temple, built in the 16th century, in Sambalpur.
Plans are there for the facelift of many other shrines, evident from the recent visits of senior bureaucrats to Nrusinghanath temple in Bargarh and Harishankar in Balangirdistrict, among others. Projects are being planned for Tara Tarini Temple in Ganjam and Biraja Temple in Jajpur district as well.
Anup Dash, a retired sociology professor at Utkal University, said improvement of amenities in prominent shrines also makes huge economic sense. “The religious structures were earlier devotee-centric. These have become tourist-centric now. The government move may actually lead to a massive turnaround in Odisha’s religious tourism. It is a very smart move,” Dash said.
A section of historians, though, have sounded a bit of caution. While any move to preserve and protect ancient monuments are welcome, no historical structure should be tempered for beautification, they said. “A single heritage tempered is volumes of history lost,” said Subrat Acharya, a professor of history at Ravenshaw University, whose research interest areas include inscriptions in Puri temple. “Many original inscriptions are vanishing from the sanctum of Jagannath Temple. These should be photographed and video-graphed for the researchers. Besides all attempts should be made to protect such treasures of history more than anything else,” he added.
Naveen, known as political savvy, has proved his detractors wrong more than once. Being in power since 2000, he is credited with several poll-wining moves such as rice at Re 1/kg, subsidized cooked meal and cash transfer scheme for farmers. Temples had never dominated discussions, until now.