By Dr. Gyan Pathak
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi was busy with his Ayodhya Ram Temple inauguration in January, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was busy with Shree Jagannath Heritage Corridor in Puri. Patnaik inaugurated his project on January 17, 2024, and Modi inaugurated his project on January 22, five days later. Neither PM Modi participated in Lord Jagannath event, nor Patnaik participated in Lord Ram event. It was simple politics, no religion, just on the eve of Lok Sabha Election 2024.
It was just an assertion of Odiya identity as against the hijacking bid of the diverse political identities of the people of India by the PM Narendra Modi and his RSS-BJP clan under the Ram Temple euphoria.CM Patnaik had sensed this stratagem of PM Modi, whose BJP has been pushing inroads into Odisha’s political landscape hitherto dominated by Biju Janata Dal (BJD) for the last 25 years. By doing so, CM Patnaik had signalled that RSS-BJP would not find Odiya people at their beck and call, though in the past in certain quarters of the state they had indulged in anti-Christian or anti-Muslim violence in the name of Hindutva.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has now raised the issue of missing key of treasure of Jagannath Temple during the election campaign, while Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said, “Naveen Patnaik hurt the honour of Lord Jagannath.” BJP’s spokesman Sambit Patra, who is also the BJP candidate for the Puri Lok Sabha Constituency said in a Freudian Slip that even Lord Jagannath was a Bhakta of PM Narendra Modi. Such attitudes of the BJP leaders were not liked by Odiya people in general, who lately started sympathizing with Naveen Patnaik as RSS-BJP’s target victim.
Election in Odisha was scheduled in four phases beginning from 4th phase on May 13 to 7th on June 1. Election campaign is at the peak for the last phase that will end on May 30. The state has 21 Lok Sabha constituencies, out of which elections have already been held on 15 seats. Only Lok Sabha seats – Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapada, and Jagatsingpur – will poll in the last phase on June 1.
Due to sudden appearance of the issue of Odiya identity during the election campaign – BJP alleging Naveen and his political lieutenant VK Pandian as anti-Odiya and BJD alleging the BJP and its state and central leadership as anti-Odiya, BJP has been facing a Herculean Task in even repeating its good performance of 2019, when the party had won as many as 8 Lok Sabha seats.
Naveen Patnaik has been helping the BJP at the Centre for the last 10 years under PM Narendra Modi on every important occasion. The logic given for doing so has been “in the interest of Odisha”. CM Patnaik wanted helping hand from the Centre to resolve the problems confronting Odisha, and he was also given help by PM Modi, except in political matters. He encouraged the state BJP to spread its clout among people, in which they succeeded substantially.
It was because of this reason, CM Patnaik tried to avoid any political confrontation with the BJP, and wanted to renew its alliance with the BJP afresh. Both sides entered into talks on alliance but it failed on insistence of the state BJP leadership, which refused to obey the PM Modi’s and Amit Shah’s diktats to have alliance with Patniak’s BJD. Alliance talks failed because of state BJP leadership’s overconfidence that they would be able to turn Naveen’s political applecart upside down, and win maximum number of Lok Sabha seats and form their own state government.
PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have targeted Naveen Patnaik’s lieutenant VK Pandian as outsider, and trying to raise Odiya identity of the people by saying that an outsider is ruling Odisha. PM Modi has said that people of Odisha are fed up with misrule of Naveen Patnaik and June 4 is his BJD government’s expiry date. Not only that he even invited the people to join BJP government’s oath taking on June 10. Pandian on the other hand said that BJD government would take oath on June 9.
In an interview, PM Modi has even said that he had sacrificed the good relationship with Naveen Patnaik and broken the alliance for the interest of Odisha. “We have good relations with the leaders of all the political parties of India and in a democracy, we do not have enmity. Now the question is whether I should maintain my relations or worry about the fate of Odisha,” he said. “I chose to devote myself to the bright future of Odisha and if I have to sacrifice my relations for that, I will sacrifice them and after the elections, I will convince everyone that I have no enmity with anyone.”
PM Modi’s utterings are impregnated with layers of meaning including the post-poll strategy, in which he would take help of the BJD, if his government falls short of majority. However, he said in his election campaign pitch that “There has been no progress in Odisha for the past 25 years. the biggest concern is that a group has taken over the entire Odisha system.” It was direct attack on Pandian and Naveen Patnaik.
Despite high pitch Hindutva campaign, BJP candidates are facing very tough electoral battle this time, much more difficult than in 2019 Lok Sabha election, since people are not entertaining the political overtures of the BJP leadership against the most peaceful, least speaking, and most popular of the chief ministers in the state.
Naveen Patnaik and his BJD seem to be still dominant political force in Odisha, and the saffron party would still be a distant second. BJP is seen struggling in at least 6 of the 8 seats the party had won in 2019. As for winning new seats the BJP prospects are not at all bright. (IPA Service)
