All eyes are on Odisha’s maiden BJP Government on how it will deal with the contentious and emotive ‘missing key’ episode of Puri Jagannath temple’s Ratna Bhandar (treasury), given the fact a resurgent BJP stormed to power in the coastal State for the first time banking on multiplicity of issues including the ‘safety’ of the revered deity’s priceless items.

The move of the new Government is being keenly watched particularly at the backdrop of judicial intervention in the matter. The Mohan Majhi Government that has already been sworn in, will have to meticulously take note of the ‘missing key’ controversy despite the poll campaign rhetoric to take to task the previous regime.

Advertisement

As the Orissa High Court intervened, the former government authorities in February 2024 had constituted a 12-member committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Arijit Pasayat for supervision of inventorisation of the valuables including jewelleries stored in the Ratna Bhandar (treasury) of 12th century Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri.

BJP’s star campaigners including Prime Minister Narendra Modi had come down heavily on the then Naveen Patnaik Government in Odisha over the mysterious disappearance of the key of Ratna Bhandar saying that “the guilty people will be taken to task after a double-engine government comes to power in Odisha”.

The Ratna Bhandar controversy coupled with Odia Ashmita (pride) had emerged as an emotive issue during the electioneering with the saffron party capitalizing the public sentiments to woo the voters in its favour. The judicial commission findings of the Ratna Bhandar controversy was not made public and was not tabled in the Assembly by the then BJD Government, raising suspicion in people’s mind on BJD’s role in the case.

Each time PM Modi addressed poll rallies in Odisha, he raked up the issue, knowing well that spiritual and emotional bonding of Odia people with Lord Jagannath will act to the advantage of BJP. Modi in a series of public meetings had reiterated that “if BJP forms the government in Odisha, it will make the report public and those involved in disappearance of key will be punished”.

The Ratna Bhandar comprises outer and inner chambers. While the outer chamber is used for storage of the day-to-day ornaments of the deities – Jagannath, Subhadra and Balabhadra- the inner chamber is earmarked for storage of precious gold jewelry, gems, pearls and rare diamonds apart from silver and other decorative items of the temple’s three presiding deities which are not used for deities’ daily rituals. A huge controversy had erupted as the key of the inner chamber was found to be missing in 2018 when the Orissa High Court ordered an inspection.

The previous government had ordered a judicial inquiry into the non-availability of keys of the Ratna Bhandar (treasury) of the 12th century Shree Jagannath Temple, Puri on June 5, 2018 as the mysterious disappearance of treasure keys had triggered a furore.

Later, a 16-member team that had entered the ‘Ratna Bhandar’ on April 4, 2018 for a scrutiny of its physical conditions had to inspect its inner chambers from outside an iron grill with search lights as the keys were missing.

“The government has received the commission report on Ratna Bhandar’s missing key and the same is being reviewed”, former Minister of State Home, Tusharkanti Behera had informed the Odisha Assembly last year.

The previous BJD Government on 29 February last year had constituted a 12-member committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Arijit Pasayat for supervision of inventorisation of the valuables including jewelleries stored in the Ratna Bhandar (treasury) of 12th century Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri.

The constitution of the panel had come in the wake of Orissa High Court directing the BJD Government to constitute the panel for supervision of the process of inventorisation of the valuables of the revered temple, which is abode of Lord Jagannath.

Though the findings of the judicial inquiry into the missing key episode was submitted with the previous State Government, it (former govt. headed by Naveen Patnaik) erred in judgment and failed to read the public sentiments linked to the issue and shied away from making the report public. It fuelled public suspicion and distrust, leading many to believe that the priceless items of the revered deities have been ‘looted’ by politicians-officials’ nexus. The Government’s statement last year in the Assembly that the judicial commission report is still being reviewed did nothing to salvage the damage. Gauging the anger in the public mood, BJP latched onto it as one of the potential tools in its mission to break the invincibility of 24-year-old Naveen Patnaik Government.