Bhubaneswar: Chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi’s maiden budget in Odisha assembly has sparked off a major controversy with the Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJP), the main opposition party now, accusing him of renaming several schemes of the previous BJD government.
Soon after Majhi, who holds the finance portfolio among others, presented a Rs 2.65 lakh crore budget, 15 percent more than the last budget under the BJD government, Patnaik, who is playing the role of leader of opposition for the first time in his 27-year-long career, launched an attack on the BJP government alleging that it had copied most of his schemes.
“They (BJP) have renamed more than 40 schemes of my government as their own,” said Patnaik implying that the BJP government of the state lacked vision and was borrowing heavily from him without giving him any credit.
Most senior BJD leaders have criticised the Majhi government for rebranding the schemes launched by their government which ruled the state for 24 years.
“They have borrowed from us as they know that our schemes were good and they kept us in power for so many years. But the new BJP government of the state not only lacks vision, it is also consciously trying to erase the legacy of the great sons of Odisha like Biju Patnaik by renaming schemes named after them. They have changed names because they think that retaining the old names may benefit our party,” said former BJD MLA Laitka Pradan.
Leaders such as Pradhan think that the new BJP government of the state is trying to erase the memory of not just Biju Patnaik or Biju Babu as the legendary leader was popularly known among his followers, but also his son Naveen Patnaik who holds the unique record of being the chief minister of the state five times without a break.
From Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana to Gopabandhu Jana Arogya Yojana
This, according to her, is obvious from the fact that while Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY), the flagship health scheme of the previous BJD government, has been renamed Gopabandhu Jana Arogya Yojana, a modified version of the Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) another scheme called ‘Ama Odisha, Naveen Odisha’ is now rebranded as ‘Viksit Gaon, Viksit Odisha’.
Similarly, the ‘Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana’ is now called the ‘Antyodaya Gruha Yojana’ and ‘Biju Setu Yojana’ has been renamed ‘Setu Bandhan Yojana’. Patnaik government’s flagship scheme for farmers, the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) now continues as ‘CM-KISAN’ scheme.
The new government has also decided that Odisha’s biennial investment summit, earlier called ‘Make in Odisha Conclave’ would continue but under the changed name of ‘Utkarsha Utkal.’
Several other schemes of Naveen Patnaik government have also been renamed by Majhi who began his career as a teacher in a RSS-supported school before taking to full time politics.
While the Odisha Millets Mission has been changed to ‘Shree Anna Abhiyan’ the Biju Yuva Sashaktikaran Yojana has been renamed as ‘Godabarisha Vidyarthi Protsahana Yojana’.
Similarly, the Biju-KBK (Koraput-Bolangir-Kalahandi) Yojana now has a new moniker—the KBK Bikash Yojana, thus dropping the name of former chief minister Biju Patnaik after whom the previous government had named a majority of its welfare and development-oriented schemes.
Political observers believe that the Naveen Patnaik government named most of its schemes after Biju Babu not only to honour the legacy of the legendary leader but also to take advantage of it in the elections.
“The BJD was named after Biju Babu whose name evoked respect and admiration. People both young and old could connect with him. The BJD survived on his name for a long time and knew the importance of keeping his legacy alive,” said political analyst Sabita Mohanty, adding that it was natural for the new BJP government in the state to try and deprive the BJD of this advantage.
“Hence, the attempt by the BJP government to change the names of the schemes launched by the previous government, especially those named after Biju Patnaik, was not unexpected. But considering the stature of Biju Babu, who was a national figure whose legacy cannot be linked to a particular political party, the BJP may have a lot of explaining to do,” said Mohanty.
The name change controversy has already caused some embarrassment to the BJP, especially chief minister Majhi. The Majhi government had to backtrack on its decision to rename the Biju Patnaik Sports Award, the top sports prize of the state, as ‘Odisha Rajya Krida Samman.”
The government was forced to go back on its decision after having issued guidelines for renaming the award. Embarrassment was acute for the chief minister when he had to announce that there would be no renaming of the award as his government respected the great sons of the soil.
CM Majhi hits back
However, the chief minister has stoutly defended his government’s move to rename several schemes in the budget which, he said, would lay the foundation for the establishment of ‘Viksit Odisha’ by 2036, the year the state completes 100 years of its existence.
Replying to the debate on the budget Majhi at those calling his government a “name changer” and asserted that it was a “people’s budget” that reflected Odia pride. Pointing out that many schemes under the previous government were named after BJD president’s father, former chief minister Biju Patnaik Majhi argued that naming all schemes after one person would be unfair to other notable figures of the state and affect Odisha’s pride.
He found nothing wrong with renaming the previous government’s schemes and asserted that many individuals had made significant contributions to the freedom struggle, Odia language, history and culture.
However, indications are that the war of words between ruling BJP and BJD over attempts by the former to erase the legacy of Naveen as well as his father will continue as their rivalry sharpens further.
“The BJP has come to power in Odisha for the first time and will do everything possible to consolidate its position in the state. The best way of doing this is to wipe out the legacy of both Naveen and his father from public mind. They would ensure that the Naveen era in Odisha politics comes to end effectively and a saffron era begins,” said Mohanty.
