Odisha: BJP Trying Hard to Paint Naveen as ‘Dead Horse’ but in Vain

The Bharatiya Janata Party seems to be losing ground to the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha as it tries hard to paint former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik as politically a ‘dead horse’.

In fact, minus Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘charisma’, BJP seems more like an empty mat on which the local party cadre is engaged in fisticuffs, while resorting to occasional jibes at BJD and its leader Naveen Patnaik.

A notion is being created by BJP that BJD is heading toward BJP and Patnaik may end up as a “shepherd in an empty farmyard.” 

But Patnaik still remains a rallying point whenever he steps out, which surely must be a dampener for his rivals. People turn up in large numbers to cheer him and even go to his residence with their grievances.

But common people on the ground are not ready to buy any such political narrative set by BJP, as they sear under an unprecedented inflation. Price rise has become uncontrollable, and this is a view that comes straight from Delhi.

According to the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), Odisha today has the highest inflation in the country followed by Bihar and Karnataka.

In this regard, the Opposition has already dealt a blow by revealing what the Central report on inflation said. The secretary concerned at MoSPI, Saurabh Garg, has nearly expressed his apprehensions about further inflation through a notice to the state government, almost chiding it to initiate quick steps to check the increasing prices of commodities.

Speaking in the Assembly recently, senior BJD legislator Ranendra Pratap Swain fired salvoes at the ‘double-engine’ government in Odisha and mockingly dismissed the National Democratic Alliance’s slogan of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’.

In an apparent swipe at the Prime Minister, Swain urged the BJP to paste that letter from MoSPI on the “56” wide chest” (referring to PM Modi).  

Today, in Odisha, the daily wage is the lowest, but labour is under pressure to toil for 12 hours a day instead of 8 hours. This, at a time when one cannot buy even a bagful of vegetables for Rs 100.

The Centra’s report has virtually warned Odisha to take remedial measures to control prices. While vegetable price inflation has crosse 30.59 %, edible oil now remains a luxury item with a 70.6 % rise in prices while fruits are 8.86% costlier.

The life of a common man has gone haywire under a record inflation of 7%.

Politically also nothing is as simple as BJP would want it to be. “An internecine conflict of interests is quite visible. After the last elections, the BJP has no state president. Since a few months the outgoing president Manmohan Samal is holding the post as a stop gap arrangement. That speaks a lot,” Rabi Das, a political analyst, told this reporter.

“In fact, it is not in the capacity of the state leaders, it is the party central leadership that has to decide, but the latter must be watchful about the disparity haunting the state cadre” he added.

So many local BJP leaders have their own ambitions and desire to head the party. There are rumours that Samal is also keen to get re-elected.

The ultimate paradox is that so far the BJP has not been able to elect its district-level presidents, let alone the state president. 

The writer is a freelancer based in Odisha. The views a personal.