Bengal BJP steps up temple narratives amid ‘Babri’ debate
Times of India | 7 December 2025
Kolkata: Amid the noise over a "Babri-styled" mosque in Murshidabad, Bengal BJP has started to step up narratives over temples.
A day after Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya asked the govt of India to reclaim Adinath Temple in Malda, BJP's Murshidabad functionary Shakharabh Sarkar on Saturday performed a puja for the proposed Ram Mandir in the district.
Union minister Sukanta Majumdar said: "We will construct a Ram Mandir in Murshidabad. Our party workers organized a small puja there. We will construct it very soon." Majumdar was supposed to attend the programme but he could not make it.
Sarkar, who performed a yajna and puja in the Manindranagar area, said a hospital was also being planned on the same premises. "A number of households in Bengal will perform puja of bricks that will be used in the construction of the temple," he said.
On Friday, Bhattacharya raised in Rajya Sabha the issue of Adina Mosque in Malda. He claimed that the mosque was built on the same premises where Adinath Temple was located. "It is not a fight between Hindus and Muslims. But the existence of Adinath Temple is historically proven. Santhal leader Jitu Santhal was killed by the British trying to reclaim the temple. A number of documentary evidences were collected between 1865 and 1867 to prove the existence of Adinath Temple at that spot," he said.