What is the mystery in Puri Jagannath Temple? Who is that Tamil VK Pandian?

 What is the mystery in Puri Jagannath Temple? Who is that Tamil VK Pandian?

The key to the treasure room of the Puri Jagannath temple is mysterious and has been sent to Tamil Nadu.

  Prime Minister Modi's speech has become highly controversial.

What is the mystery of Puri Jagannath Temple?

The jewels belonging to the temple are preserved in the treasury called Ratna Bandar of Puri Jagannath Temple.

This Ratna Bandar has two rooms. One is the inner chamber and the other is the outer chamber.

Out of these two rooms the outer room is occasionally opened and the jewels in it are used to decorate the idols during temple festivals and other events.

But another room, the inner room, has not been opened for more than 38 years. A large number of unused gold and silver jewels are preserved inside the room as temple property. This room has two locks. These rooms can be opened only with the special permission of the state government.

This room has only been opened four times in the last hundred years. The room was opened in 1905, 1926, 1978 and 1985. After that the inner chamber was never opened.

How many jewels are there?

According to a survey by the Odisha government in 1978, the treasure room of the Puri Jagannath temple contained 149 kg of gold and 258 kg of silver.

An attempt was made to open this room in 2018. A team of 16 members went to open and inspect the Ratna Bandar treasury with the order of the High Court. Only then did they realize that the key to the inner room was missing. Because of this, they stood outside the iron door of the room and turned on the light.

Searched everywhere including the bank locker but could not find the keys to the room. Many protests were held when this matter came to light and caused anger among the people

Due to this, in 2018 Naveen Patnaik Government of Odisha retired High Court Judge Raghubir. A commission of inquiry headed by Dash was ordered to inquire into the missing keys.

A few days after the investigation began, the investigation team said they had found a cover labeled "duplicate keys to an inner room" when they conducted an inquiry at the Puri district collector's office.

A 324-page inquiry report was then submitted by the committee. But the statement has not been made public yet.</p>

As the issue continues to be frequently debated, the Jagannath temple's management committee announced in August last year that the inner chamber of the temple treasury will be opened in 2024 when the annual Ratha Yatra takes place.

Also on the order of the Odisha High Court, it was announced that a panel headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Arijit Bashayat would be formed to monitor the value of jewelery and other expensive items kept inside the inner chamber.

BJP took up this issue in the election campaign

Modi has taken up this issue in Odisha's election campaign. Biju Janata Dal leader Naveen Patnaik has been the Chief Minister of Odisha for 25 years. Next to him is VK Pandian, a Tamilian who is in charge of the party. Modi has said that the keys of the treasure room of Puri Jagannath temple have been taken to Tamilnadu only targeting him.

But there is anger in the political circles of Tamil Nadu that Modi is insulting Tamils by saying that the key has been taken to Tamil Nadu without mentioning the individual VK Pandian.

VK Pandian was born in Madurai. In 2002, he started working as an IAS officer in Dharmagarh district of Odisha. He has also received National Award for his work in public works sector.

After that he worked as District Collector in many districts of Odisha. VK Pandian started the scheme of direct payment of money for the National Rural Employment Scheme in the bank account for the first time in Ganjam district of Odisha.

He became close to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik due to his work in various departments. In 2011, Pandian became Private Secretary to Odisha Chief Minister. He even emerged as Naveen Patnaik's right-hand man at one point.

In 2019, VK Pandian was given the responsibility to implement the major projects of Orissa State which can be called 5T (Transformational Initiatives). It is a responsibility equivalent to that of a Cabinet Minister.

Since then, the opposition parties have started talking about Pandyan entering politics and Naveen Patnaik being the one to lead the Biju Janata Dal.

VK Pandian carried out many important works. He worked on the restoration of ancient temples in Odisha.   He also undertook the work of renovating hospitals and building new medical colleges. His visits to every hospital during the Corona time created huge support for him among the people of Odisha.

In November 2023, VK Pandian directly joined the Biju Janata Dal. VK Pandiyan is seen as the next leader of the Biju Janata Party as there are not many second tier leaders after Naveen Patnaik in the Biju Janata base. Political commentators in Odisha report that wherever VK Pandian travels to campaign for the Biju Janata Dal, he enjoys massive popular support.

In November 2023, VK Pandian directly joined the Biju Janata Dal. VK Pandiyan is seen as the next leader of the Biju Janata Party as there are not many second tier leaders after Naveen Patnaik in the Biju Janata base. Political commentators in Odisha report that wherever VK Pandian travels to campaign for the Biju Janata Dal, he enjoys massive popular support.

In this situation, the BJP has stepped up its campaign in Odisha by presenting VK Pandian as an outsider to defeat the Biju Janata Dal. Amit Shah has been targeting VK Pandiyan in his campaigns asking whether a Tamil can rule Odisha without a native of this land.

Likewise, Prime Minister Modi is targeting VK Pandiyan in the case of missing keys of Puri Jagannath Temple and is campaigning that the keys have been taken to Tamil Nadu. Modi's mention of Tamil Nadu as a part of it has become a controversy today.

Even before the announcement of the election date, the BJP was in talks to form an alliance with the Biju Janata Dal. BJP did not form an alliance with Biju Janata Dal because no agreement was reached on seat sharing. Political commentators question whether Modi was aware of the missing Jagannath Temple key while talking about an alliance with the Biju Janata Dal.

And if you want to criticize VK Pandian, without criticizing him personally, Modi has come under severe criticism in Tamil Nadu for speaking as if Tamil Nadu has taken the keys of Jagannath Temple.

VK Pandian responded to Modi's criticism by saying, "Prime Minister Modi who is now talking about the missing keys, if possible, let him find the keys himself." And ”the room will be opened during the temple festival. The date for that has also been fixed," he said.