Bhubaneswar: Niceties of the past having been done away with in this battle for supremacy in Odisha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched a volley of personal attacks on his friend-turned-foe, chief minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo Naveen Patnaik – in the process making a mistake that proved fodder for jokes.
Addressing rallies in Kandhamal, Bolangir and Bargarh Lok Sabha constituencies on May 11 the Modi mocked Patnaik, saying he lacks knowledge about the state he has been governing for the past 24 years.
Accusing the chief minister, whom he has praised lavishly on several occasions in the past, of not being connected with his own people he asked the gathering in Bolangir to put Patnaik’s knowledge of his state to test by asking him to name 10 villages in Kantabanji assembly constituency from where he has filed his nomination papers along with his traditional seat of Hinjili. Kantabanji assembly segment is part of Bolangir Lok Sabha constituency where BJP’s Sangeeta Singh Deo is locking horns with Congress turncoat and BJD candidate Surendra Singh Bhoi.
District ‘capitals’
Modi, who held a heavily attended roadshow in Bhubaneswar on May 10, mocked the chief minister even at his rally in the Kandhamal Lok Sabha constituency, claiming that despite ruling the state for such a long time, Patnaik knows very little about it. “Naveen Babu is the CM of Odisha for so many years. I want to challenge Naveen Babu. Why are people upset with you? This is because you make him (the chief minister) stand anywhere and tell him to spell out the names of districts and their capitals without the aid of a written paper and he won’t be able to do that. How can a chief minister, who cannot tell names of the districts and their capitals from memory, be expected to understand your plight?,” asked Modi.
Modi’s use of “capitals” instead of “headquarters” has led to criticism over social media, with many pointing out that districts do not, in fact, have capitals.
At Bargarh, Modi targeted Patnaik’s chief aide, former IAS officer V.K. Pandian who is the main strategist of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in these elections. Alleging that the government in Odisha had been outsourced, Modi said, “Do you know the entire government has been outsourced? There is a ‘super CM [an obvious reference to Pandian]’ who is above the democratically-elected government and the chief minister. Do you want the state to go into the hands of those who have no understanding of Odisha?”
Also read: ‘Friendly Tussle’ Forgotten, It’s Knives Out for BJP and BJD in Odisha This Time
Never a barrier
This is not the first time that Modi had targeted the chief minister following the collapse of alliance talks between BJP and BJD. Addressing his first election rally in the state at Berhampur recently, Modi had made a direct attack on Patnaik with focus on his poor knowledge of Odia. He had called upon people to ensure that a person well versed in state’s language and culture became the chief minister.
Patnaik’s deficient Odia has been his Achilles heel since the beginning of his political career in 1997 when he made his electoral debut from the Aska Lok Sabha constituency in a by-election following the death of his father and state’s legendary chief minister Biju Patnaik. As Patnaik, whose sole identity till then was that of a Delhi-based socialite author, campaigned in the heat and dust of Aska, his opponents poked fun at him for not being able to speak Odia. They sought to project him as an “outsider”.
Patnaik still came out with flying colours as the people of Aska were impressed by his simplicity and sincerity. Language was no barrier as he could communicate with them without speaking much. Clad in a crumpled kurta and ankle-length pyjama, which has since become his identity, he listened to their problems intently. The opposition’s campaign against him fell flat.
‘Are you happy too?’
It has been the same story election after election in the state as the people, who have been benefitting from the slew of welfare schemes he has launched during the last 24 years of his rule, do not care much about whether or not he can speak Odia as fluently as many of his party colleagues. As ruling BJD’s infallible poll mascot the holds complete sway over the voters and can make a crowd erupt in cheers with the simple wave of a hand. Campaigning at most of the places in 2019 elections all that he would say in Odia was “Moon khushi apanamane khushi ta ( I am happy, are you people happy, too).? That was enough to send the crowd into raptures. He still retains that ability and hence Prime Minister Modi’s attack on him on the language issue is unlikely to cut much ice with the electorate in the state.
The sudden change in the Prime Minister’s attitude towards his old friend whose party bailed the NDA government out in the Rajya Sabha several times in the past has, however, raised some questions. “The truth is that the Prime Minister should be grateful to our party and our supreme leader, the chief minister. If the BJP thinks it can form a government in Odisha by making personal attacks on our leader it is living in a fool’s paradise. Chief minister’s popularity rests on the good work that he has done for the past 24 years. The BJP, on contrast, has nothing to show for itself in Odisha. There can be no comparison between the two,” said a senior BJD leader who did not wish to be identified.
Patnaik’s response to this came in the form of a video clip in which he hit back at Modi questioning his contribution and commitment to the development of Odisha and its language. “Honourable Prime Minister, how much do you remember about Odisha? Even though Odia is a classical language, you forgot about it. You have allotted Rs 1,000 crore to Sanskrit but zero to Odia”, the chief minister said in his video statement adding that the prime minister even forgot about Odissi music though the state had sent him proposals about the recognition of classical Odissi music.
Replying to the Prime Minister’s charge that Odisha has not developed despite having vast natural resources the chief minister said “Odisha’s natural wealth is coal. You (Centre) take coal from Odisha. But you forgot to hike the royalty on coal in the last 10 years.” Patnaik also asserted that with the blessings of lord Jagannath his party will form a government in the state for the sixth time in a row.
ମୋର କ’ଣ ମନେ ଅଛି କି ନାହିଁ ସେଇଟା ମୋର ପ୍ରିୟ ସାଢ଼େ ଚାରି କୋଟି ଓଡ଼ିଶାବାସୀ ଜାଣିଛନ୍ତି। #JodiShankha pic.twitter.com/OpkecsQt72
— Naveen Patnaik (@Naveen_Odisha) May 11, 2024
Earlier in another video he had mocked Modi’s claim of forming a government in Odisha saying, “they have been day dreaming for quite some time.”
Patnaik chief aide Pandian, too, had responded to the Modi’s line on a BJP chief minister being sworn in on June 10 by asserting that he would quit politics if Patnaik did not land a sixth straight term in office. He even set June 9 as the date for Patnaik’s oath taking.
Most political analysts agree that Modi has raised the pitch of his attack on the chief minister and his party in the hope that an aggressive approach would yield dividends in the form of more Lok Sabha and assembly seats. However, this approach does not always work. “It is a gamble which may or may not pay. The chief minister, in contrast, would like the people to judge him on the basis of his work,” said Sabita Mohanty, a keen observer of Odisha politics.
