Why The Ground Is Slipping From Under The Enigmatic Naveen Patnaik’s Feet

On stepping out of Bhubaneshwar’s Biju Patnaik International Airport, one is greeted by scores of mini-hoardings celebrating the conferment of the ‘Ideal Chief Minister Award-2018’ on Odisha’s enigmatic Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The hoardings carry the benignly smiling visage of 72-year-old Patnaik, who has been ruling Odisha since 2000.

The name of the organisation that chose Patnaik for this award -Bharatiya Chhatra Sansad - is written in a much smaller print and one may even miss it while zipping out of the airport. One may wonder what this little known organisation is all about, and many would even frown at it. But for many in Odisha, such questions hold little relevance; what is important is that Patnaik has got the honour that they feel he richly deserves. This is despite the fact that its economic and social plight may not have improved much over the last 18 years and Odisha continues to lag behind other states on most development indices.

So what is it that makes Naveen Patnaik, a writer better known as a socialite till he joined politics after the demise of his father (Biju Patnaik) in 1997, such a saintly figure among the large section of the people of the backward state?. How his name remained unbesmirched by the many scams that have occurred under his watch? And what makes the people of Odisha repose faith in him repeatedly?

The answer, perhaps, lies in his carefully crafted image. And the political acumen that he keeps under restraint to project that amiable and benevolent persona that the people are so fond of. Even after over two decades in politics, Naveen Patnaik is largely seen as a simple person who was thrust into the hurly-burly of politics after the death of his father Biju Patnaik, who is widely respected as the architect of modern-day Odisha and a folk hero of sorts in the state. Naveen Patnaik also repeatedly but subtly stresses on this by telling the people he is working towards the goal set by his father and carrying his father’s legacy forward. And his opponents, both within and outside the party, are trying to hold him back from realising those goals. That, say his detractors and opponents - a growing tribe within the state - evokes a lot of sympathy among the masses.

Author and activist Biswajit Mohanty, who has penned a fine critique on Naveen Patnaik titled Chasing His Father's Dreams, says Naveen Patnaik is not the reluctant politician that he makes himself out to be. “He is, in fact, very ruthless while dealing with opponents and critics and is a very close observer and judge of people,” said Mohanty. Quite like Indira Gandhi, Naveen Patnaik was installed as the head of the Janata Dal by a powerful coterie of leaders - they convinced his mother to get Naveen Patnaik, who was well-known in the literary and social circuits of Delhi, to join politics - in the hope that they would be able to control the affairs of the party through a novice and a puppet. But Naveen Patnaik took to politics like fish to water and very soon, all these powerful leaders found themselves outwitted and outmanoeuvred.

On entering politics, Naveen Patnaik cast away all his designer clothes and donned the simple and unassuming white kurta-pyjama, which has remained his attire since then. “Naveen who manages to exude the impression of personal integrity and honesty by wearing those clothes,” said Mohanty, who has observed Naveen Patnaik and his actions very closely over the past two decades. He stays in the simple ‘Naveen Niwas’ and has a spartan lifestyle, which is in sharp contrast to the ostentatious bungalows and lifestyle of many within and outside the party.

But Naveen Patnaik, say those who know him well, is a deeply suspicious person too. “He is a keen observer and will snuff out opposition or dissent at the slightest suspicion. For instance, if he notices a row of cars parked outside a minister’s bungalow, he will make enquiries to find out what that minister is up to. If he learns that many people (bureaucrats, junior politicians and supporters) have started visiting that minister in large numbers, he will wait for an opportune time to sack that Minister without the latter having a clue,” said a senior Biju Janata Dal leader who had a fall-out with the chief minister. As a result, no one in the party feels secure and everyone is always looking over their shoulders. This strengthens Naveen Patnaik’s position within the party.

Naveen Patnaik has remained unscathed by the various mega scams that have occurred in recent years. Senior state BJP leader Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo reveals the secret: “Naveen Patnaik has always distanced himself immediately from those against who even a whiff of corruption surfaced. He has dropped ministers very frequently and denies nomination to many MLAs. It is a different matter that the tainted ministers he dismisses are again taken back once the dust settles and people forget about the scam”. “Naveen has been very ruthless in this regard and his public image receives a fillip every time he sacks a minister against whom allegations of corruption have surfaced,” said Singh Deo, whose father Rajendra Narayan Singh Deo was a chief minister. Kanak Vardhan held the industries, public enterprises and urban development portfolios in the BJD-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government that ruled Odisha for nine years till Naveen Patnaik severed the alliance in 2009. He was also a friend of Patnaik, who used to drop in to his tony mansion near the Raj Bhavan occasionally.

Naveen Patnaik, says a senior member of the party who did not want to be named, has sacked an average of one minister every four months in the first 14 years of his tenure. A major reason behind Patnaik’s successive electoral successes is the aura of stability that he successfully projected, says this BJD leader who fell out with Naveen Patnaik over various issues and has been suspended from the party. Before Naveen Patnaik, Odisha was wracked by political instability - frequent changes of chief minister by the Congress - and corruption, but Naveen has been able to provide stable governance, says this leader.

BJD spokesperson Sasmit Patra admits that the reason anti-incumbency does not affect the Chief Minister is because he drops ministers and MLAs frequently. “In every election, a large percentage of MLAs are not re-nominated. Even in the assembly elections next year, 30 per cent to 50 per cent of the sitting BJD legislators will not be renominated. The strategy is to get people to vote for Naveen Patnaik and the BJD, and not the MLA. The local MLA does not matter, it is Naveen Patnaik and the party that will fulfil the aspirations of the people,” said Patra.

In end-May 2012, Pyari Mohan Mohapatra, a very close aide of Naveen Patnaik and the number two man in the BJD, staged a coup while he had gone to London. The coup was swiftly and successfully quelled by his loyalists (including the senior leader who has now been suspended from the party) and Patnaik returned to Bhubaneshwar to a hero’s welcome three days later. “This rebellion shored Naveen’s support among the people. He was seen as the simple man who crafty politicians scheme against,” said Singh Deo. Incidentally, it was Mohapatra who convinced Naveen Patnaik to break the alliance with the BJP in 2009. “Mohapatra told Naveen the BJD would win 100 seats (in the 147-member state Assembly) on its own. The BJD won 103 seats. Mohapatra’s ambitions soared after this as Naveen became more dependent on him,” said the suspended BJD leader who lent crucial support to Naveen Patnaik during the 2012 crisis.

Naveen Patnaik, says BJP state executive member Biswajit Mohanty, “is a master in rhetoric and metaphors that become a hit with the people”. The BJD, he says, has been reaping the dividends from the thousands of women self-help groups that the state provides microfinance to. “These women form one large of Naveen’s support base. And then there are the various welfare schemes that the state government launches from time to time, like rice at one Re 1 a kilo, shoes, umbrellas, bicycles, uniforms, free books, free medicines, sanitary napkins and many more, plus doles to farmers, pregnant women, aged and for funerals. These have created a huge support base for Naveen Patnaik in Odisha.

But these welfare schemes and doles have bled the state coffers dry. The state’s total debt stands at a staggering Rs 76,000 crore and by the end of this fiscal, it will go up to Rs 91,000 crore. In the state budget for this year, a total of 13 new welfare schemes have been announced.

“The effect of such largesse is going to be felt very soon. More so since the state’s economy is in the doldrums, unemployment is very high, the farm sector is in severe distress and public healthcare and education is suffering,” says Naveen Das, editor of a popular Odiya daily published from Bhubaneshwar.

Dilip Satpathy, the resident editor of Business Standard in Bhubaneshwar, says that though the social welfare schemes had made their positive impact on the lives of the people, the delivery mechanism is full of leakages and the lower bureaucracy have been siphoning off money meant for the poor. “Naveen Patnaik suffers from a language barrier (he doesn’t know much of Odiya) and can’t mingle closely with the masses. So he doesn’t really understand the nitty-gritty of the state and is hugely dependant on the bureaucracy to get things done. This has created many problems,” said Satpathy.

One of these ‘problems’ is the disproportionate influence wielded by V Karthikeyan Pandian, a mid-ranking IAS officer who is Patnaik’s private secretary. “Pandian controls not only the entire bureaucracy, but also the party. He is a bad influence on the Chief Minister,” says former agriculture minister Damodar Rout, who says he was dropped from the cabinet after he instituted an enquiry against Sujatha Kartikeyan (Pandian’s wife, who is also an IAS officer). “There is a lot of resentment against Pandian within the senior ranks of the BJD and that resentment is piling up,” said Satpathy.

The BJP has targeted Pandian and plans to expose the corruption charges that this bureaucrat faces. “Pandian has made a mockery of governance. Senior bureaucrats feel insulted and have been sidelined. As a result, governance has suffered. We will expose all this. Pandian will be Naveen Patnaik’s achilles heel,” said BJP’s Singh Deo. Other BJP leaders said that many within the BJD will switch over to the BJP as the elections approach since they are fed up with Pandian running the party.

But BJD spokesperson Patra rubbishes these allegations and says it is an old ploy to undermine Naveen Patnaik’s image which will not succeed.

But the ground under Naveen Patnaik’s feet seems to be slipping.

The BJP is going to town over the many welfare schemes that Patnaik takes credit for and are, in fact, funded by the Union Government’s largesse. “Many ambulances were launched under the centrally-funded National Rural Health Mission, but these were painted in the BJD’s colour’s with Naveeen’s potraits and they started doing the rounds of the state till the Union Government sent a stern missive to the state. Similarly, many other schemes attributed to Naveen Patnaik are funded either wholly or majorly by the Union Government. We shall expose all this and present the true picture to the people of the state,” said BJP spokesperson Bhrugu Bakshi Patra.

Also, with unemployment being rife and the general economy of the state being in doldrums, the effects of the many welfare schemes and doles rolled out by Naveen Patnaik is slowly wearing off. “People don’t like to live on handouts. They want jobs, they want business opportunities, they want their crops to fetch good prices, they want good hospitals and schools, they want good public transport and they want a responsive and caring state administration. Naveen Patnaik has failed on all these counts,” says senior BJP leader and Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the BJP’s face in Odisha.

And then there are the many corruption charges that the BJP plans to highlight. Starting from the chit fund scam to the mining scam, there are many other - big and small - in between. The BJP plans to launch a highly aggressive campaign against Naveen Patnaik as assembly polls draw near in the coming months. The strategy is to demolish Naveen Patnaik’s carefully crafted image. “He is no saint and he has presided over mega scams and the decline of the state. We will expose him for what he is,” says Pradhan. There are many BJD leaders waiting in the wings to join the BJP, says Pradhan.

Naveen Patnaik’s health is another subject that could become an election issue. Though Sasmit Patra says that the Chief Minister is in good health, many say he has his own problems.

The road leading to the departure area of Biju Patnaik International Airport is lined with mini-hoardings highlighting the many mega infrastructure and other projects undertaken by the Narendra Modi government. They have Prime Minister Modi’s smiling portraits on them. BJP’s Mohanty points out that compared to Naveen Patnaik’s tired smile on the hoardings on the other road leading away from the airport, Modi’s portrait conveys energy and promise. The people of Odisha will surely make the right choice, he believes.