‘Odia asmita’ played a big role in turning the tide in favour of BJP

Celebration time: BJP supporters celebrate the party’s victory in Odisha Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Bhubaneswar. ANI SATYASUNDAR BARIK BHUBANESWAR NEWS ANALYSIS Local Bharatiya Janata Party leaders believe it was the issue of ‘Odia asmita (pride)’ that stoked the anti-incumbency sentiments across Odisha. People could ‘see through’ the ambition of V. K. Pandian, a Tamil Nadu-born former IAS officer and close aide of outgoing Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, to rule the State from behind the scenes, said BJP leaders. Manmohan Samal, president of the BJP’s Odisha unit, was the first to attack the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) over the “Pandian issue” and state that ‘Odia asmita’ would be the party’s main poll plank. The former 2000-batch IAS officer, known to be a backroom operator diligently performing all bureaucratic works in the Chief Minister’s Office after being posted as Mr. Patnaik’s private secretary in 2011, is said to have gradually exerted his influence both in official functioning and party affairs. Subsequently, he enjoyed unhindered access to the Chief Minister’s residence. Photographs of the former bureaucrat standing behind Mr. Patnaik in informal attire, overseeing his morning exercise and sharing the dining table with him and other dignitaries, reinforced the public perception that no one enjoyed more power than him and nothing moved in Odisha without his approval. In 2019, a new initiative, ‘5T’ (teamwork, technology, transparency, transformation and time limit), a benchmark deciding the performance of government officials and project execution, was launched in the State. Mr. Pandian headed the initiative, accruing supreme administrative power to review projects across all departments. The turning point came in 2023 when he started flying to every district to hold grievance redressal sessions. The Opposition started to question a mid-level bureaucrat’s overarching power and extravagant spending on addressing ‘staged’ events. The public spectacle of him occupying the stage alone while people’s representatives were being reduced to the role of ‘volunteers’ did not go down well among people. Senior BJD leaders, including Cabinet Ministers, were seen clearing traffic so that Mr. Pandian’s vehicle could move to the venue. As BJD leaders competed among themselves to prove their loyalty to the former bureaucrat, people considered it an exhibition of arrogant power. Mr. Pandian would reportedly use helicopters to travel even a small distance of 30 km. In the run-up to elections, BJD had issued a list of 40 star campaigners. However, during the campaign trail, only Mr. Patnaik and Mr. Pandian were seen canvassing. A senior BJP leader said the former bureaucrat’s campaign proved to be a blessing in disguise. The more he campaigned, the more votes BJD started losing, he claimed. The hectic campaign saw Mr. Pandian touring more districts than Mr. Patnaik. On the stage, the speech time allotted to Mr. Pandian was higher than that of Mr. Patnaik, who enjoyed unparalleled popularity in Odisha during his 24 years of rule and was now starting to be viewed as ordinary politician. More interviews Moreover, the number of interviews Mr. Pandian gave to media outlets during the campaign vastly outnumbered that of the Chief Minister. It triggered a discussion about the deteriorating health of Mr. Patnaik. In one of the meetings, Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the health issue, which appeared to have worked in the BJP’s favour.https://epaper.thehindu.com/ccidist-ws/th/th_delhi/issues/85674/OPS/G39CT0RB8.1+G3GCT2LTO.1.html