Eyeing 2019 polls, BJD, BJP to invoke Odia pride

Bhubaneswar: The BJP, which is trying to make a big push to mop up the unconquered parts of eastern India, has stepped up its political activities in Odisha as it sees a bigger chance of capturing the state in a direct fight with the ruling BJD as the Congress getting weak as a political force.

Buoyed by the 34 per cent votes it got in the urban body polls held early this year, the saffron party has opened multiple fronts against the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) which has been in power in the state for more than 17 years.

The Naveen Patnaik-led regional outfit, which was founded in 1997 after the demise of chief minister's father Biju Patnaik, has proved to be an invincible foe for the BJP.

The saffron wave during 2014 general elections had little impact on the Biju Janata Dal (BJD). The national party meekly surrendered before Mr Patnaik's well-prepared poll strategy. In 2014, the BJP could only win 10 of the 147 Assembly seats and one of the 21 Lok Sabha seats.

Now with the Congress in Odisha becoming rudderless, more because of intra-party feuds, the BJP has emerged a clear challenger to the BJD. And, both parties are now engaged in a fierce political and psychological battle to get an upper hand.

The BJP state leaders, led by national president Amit Shah and Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, are missing no opportunity to attack the BJD government to boost the morale of party workers.

With an eye on the 2019 Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, Mr Shah has visited the state thrice this year. His next three-day trip is scheduled to begin on September 6 and likely to attend at least 36 organisational programmes. Mr Shah has predicted his party would bag 120 Assembly seats, though he hasn’t spelt out the number of Lok Sabha seats the BJP is eying to get.What is quite interesting is that both the parties are trying to encash the Odia pride to strike an emotional chord with voters. It all started when Union finance minister Arun Jaitley announced in his budget speech this year a commemoration of 200 years of Paika rebellion. Budgetary provision was also made for celebration of the event in national capital and in the state.

The BJP state leaders describe the Paika rebellion of 1817 against the British East India Company as the first war of Independence and portray its leader Buxi Jagabandhu (Bidyadhar Mohapatra) as one of the greatest warriors.

Recognition of the Paika rebellion at the national level brought much cheer to Odisha — and was welcomed even by chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

Two months later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was in Odisha to attend BJP's April 15 and 16 national executive meet, felicitated at Raj Bhavan descendants of 16 families associated with the Paika rebellion. Janata Maidan, the venue of the BJP national executive meet, was named after Bhima Bhoi, a 19th century tribal poet, apparently, to woo the 22.85 per cent tribal population in the state.

On April 14, when Mr Shah arrived in Bhubaneswar to attend the party's executive meet, he went straight to the statue of B.R. Ambedkar instead of garlanding other great leaders of the state, making an indirect statement to the 17.13 per cent dalit population of the state that the party cared for them.

A veteran politician as he is, the Odisha chief minister, who has led the regional outfit in five Lok Sabha and four Assembly elections, is not one to give up so easily. Mr Patnaik, who has named as many as 30 government programmes and schemes after his father and former chief minister Biju Patnaik, has also started naming different infrastructure projects after other Odia icons to woo the specific groups of voters.

Mr Patnaik also named the new Kathajodi river bridge, linking the capital Bhubaneswar with Cuttack, after Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. A drinking water project was named after Buxi Jagabandhu.

He has also written to Union railway minister Suresh Prabhu for naming a train after Buxi Jagabandhu. Dr K.C. Swain, a political analyst, sees the BJD and the BJP invoking Odia pride and sub-nationalism for political gain.

He said, “The BJP is playing the card of strategy of symbolism. It wants to send a message to the public that the party is trying to bring marginalised sections into the mainstream. It’s a well thought-out plan to get a foothold in the state.”