Essential lesson for the next BJP leader parachuting into Bengal: Jekhane bagher bhoy, shekhanei shondhye hoy.

Disaster always strikes at the worst time and place, the Bengali saying means.

Had BJP national president J.P. Nadda been aware of the sage advice, he would not have described on Saturday a temple as the holy site of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s deeksha (initiation).

The temple in Katwa in East Burdwan was built in 1839. Mahaprabhu, a paragon of the Bhakti movement and Vaishnavism, breathed his last at the age of 48 in 1534 or 305 years before the temple took shape.

Missteps about celebrated figures in Bengal -- ranging from Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar and Birsa Munda to Rabindranath Tagore -- are becoming a habit with visiting BJP leaders who try too hard to display their connect with the local culture and counter the bohiragawto (outsider) label ahead of the Assembly polls.

On Saturday, after visiting the temple at Jagadanandapur village in Katwa, 140km from Calcutta, Nadda said: “Mitron, aaj main Radha Govindji ke puratan mandir mei gaya, jahan Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ney diksha li thi (Friends, today I went to an old temple of Radha Govind, where Chaitanya Mahaprabhu received initiation).”

The initiation of Mahaprabhu, extolled frequently by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, took place in 1510 --- that is, 329 years before the Jagadanandapur temple came up, according to several accounts.

The Jagadanandapur temple authorities said it had no connection to the initiation of Mahaprabhu. “Ours is an old Vaishnav temple set up by a local zamindar, Radhamohan Ghosh Chowdhury, in 1839. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, obviously, could not have been initiated here,” said Nimai Das, the temple-in-charge.

Some residents of Katwa said Nadda had probably confused the Jagadanandapur temple with the Shri Shri Gouranga Temple, around 10km away. Centuries older, the Gouranga temple was the one Mahaprabhu purportedly visited in 1510.

“Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to Katwa from Nadia’s Nabadwip and was initiated by Keshav Bharati in 1510,” said Swapan Kumar Thakur, who researches local history and culture in Katwa.

BJP leaders said the mistake was the result of miscommunication, adding that Nadda was supposed to visit the Gouranga temple.

“The plan was changed for security arrangements, basically because of the unavailability of a proper spot to build a helipad for his landing. I think he was not told that the temple he had actually visited was not the one he had expected to. It was not his fault, of course,” said Krishna Ghosh, the BJP’s Katwa unit chief.

Trinamul Congress vice-president Saugata Roy said: “You cannot learn the history, culture, tradition, language and heritage of such a glorious state overnight…. In their hurry to appropriate Bengal icons, they are making mistake after mistake…. Primarily because they are essentially bohiragawto, in mind and spirit.”

On his part, Nadda did strive to fit in. Instead of sticking to Lord Ram alone, the BJP chief tried his hand at new slogans hailing Durga and Kali.