Bhubaneswar: There is hue and cry over mystery of not opening of Lord Jagannath’s Ratna Bhandar, the Temple Treasury. And this mystery is further deepens when the State Government having reasons best known to them, remained silent over opening of the Lord’s Treasury. As there has been no inventory of valuables in Ratna Bhandar for 45 years, it is obvious that people are worried and suspect foul play.
Nobody is totally blaming the Governing BJD which has been ruling over the state for 23 years. Since 1978, Odisha has seen at least five Chief Ministers and surprisingly, none of them including an ardent devotee of Lord Jagannat, Janaki Ballabh Patnaik, have not tried to open the Ratna Bhandar. Not making an inventory of Ratna Bhandar has almost become a practice in the subsequent governments.
However, fingers are now being pointed directly at the State Administration and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik as he remained silent over the matter even as the people from all walks of life have demanded to open the Ratna Bhandar.
The Ratna Bhandar issue is not just confined to Odisha, demands are also heard in other states. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP National President Jagat Prakash Nadda and others in the saffron party have raised the issue several times. Opposition Congress has also made it an issue. The Naveen Patnaik Government’s silence has raised many eyebrows and people have started suspecting whether the Lord’s Treasury is safe or not.
Interestingly, Odisha’s Law Minister Jagannath Saraka’s recent statement has raised many questions. The Minister said that he does not have any information on the missing keys of the Ratna Bhandar even as the State Government had set up a Judicial Commission to probe into the missing key matter. Though the Justice Raghubir Dash Commission submitted its report with the State Government five years ago, the Government preferred not to place it in the State Legislative Assembly and sat over that, alleged a BJP Stalwart,
It was in fact a strange matter that the Law Minister was not aware about a major happening in the 12th century shrine. It is part of the Minister’s responsibilities to have full information on Shree Jagannath Temple. Not aware of the facts simply indicates his inability to see things in right perspective.
The Law Minister’s statement was unfortunate, said BJP’s former State President Samir Mohanty, who has filed a PIL in the Orissa High Court seeking opening of the Ratna Bhandar for a fresh inventory and also a CBI probe into the missing key incident along with action against officials responsible for the loss of keys.
After the 1978 inventory, the State Government in accordance with an order of the High Court had opened the Ratna Bhandar in 2018. A dedicated team was formed for the purpose and they entered into the treasury after abiding by the rituals. However, the team members could not open the inner chamber of the Ratna Bhandar as the District Administration at the last moment said that the key was missing.
Was not the District Administration aware about key missing before entering into the Ratna Bhandar? All those incidents raised suspicion that the Ratna Bhandar is not opened and let it remain as a mystery. Who is actually behind such conspiracy and whether the Chief Minister is aware about it. It is State Government and Chief Minister’s lookout to find the people responsible for delaying inventory of the Ratna Bhandar valuables.
Former Minister Law Pratap Jena in an Assembly reply has said according to the 1978 inventory, the Ratna Bhandar has 12,831 bhari of gold and 22,153 bhari of silver. One bhari weighs 11.66 gram. Therefore, the Ratna Bhandar preserves at least 120 kilogram of gold and 221 kg of silver. This apart, the Minister said that 14 gold and silver items could not be weighed during the inventory making process for different reasons. However, during the inventory process, the value of the items could not be assessed; the Minister had informed the Assembly on April 26, 2018.
During the last 45 years, the temple has received many diamond, gold, silver through donation. Therefore, the volume of Lord’s valuable stock has gone much more.
It is expected that the Lord’s valuables should be safe as those are kept inside the Ratna Bhandar which could be opened only with consent of several people. Therefore, the State Government should open the Ratna Bhandar. As the inner chamber of Ratna Bhandar remained closed for decades, there had been damages to the wall as informed by the Archeological Survey of India (ASI). The Ratna Bhandar must be repaired and protected in order to keep the gold and silver safe.
It is high time, the State Administration must rise to the occasion and open Ratna Bhandar. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who is considered to be an ardent devotee of Lord Jagannath, should also issue directions to officials to open the Ratna Bhandar. Naveen’s silence on the issue is seen differently and the Chief Minister should clear doubts in the minds of 4.5 crore people whom he considers as the members of his family. As the opposition parties have raked Ratna Bhandar as a major issue before the general elections, they should be silenced by Governing BJD, pointed out a former Minister.
