Odisha: Naveen Patnaik Hits Out at BJP’s Design for ‘Opposition-Free’ India

‘When bad times come then, even if you are on a camel’s back, a dog can still bite your legs’ goes a saying in Hindi. So, even after its presence in 21 states, there is an air of rebellion building up against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in many states, including Odisha.

Since the 2024 elections, Biju Janata Dal leader Naveen Patnaik’s angst of defeat after 24 years in power, has slowly raised its head on several occasions when he took jibes at the BJP in the state and, by implication, at the Narendra Modi dispensation at the Centre.

For Prime Minister Modi, say experts, the bid to escape the discomfort of criticism does not pay any dividends. In a way, difficulties have been chasing him like a shadow.    

Patnaik, who has stood by Modi on several occasions, supporting the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha whenever needed, perhaps, seems to have realised that now is the time to side-step on certain issues to send a message among the BJD cadre that he can walk without crutches and dispel the notion about his subservience to Modi.

At a time when the entire Opposition is trying to attack the Modi government, the BJD leader cannot afford to be seen in a relationship of bonhomie with BJP anymore.            

The Waqf Bill was apparently an indication that Patnaik was no longer the same submissive BJD chief, when he told his Rajya Sabha troupe to vote according to ‘conscience’ instead of issuing a one-line whip.

Although the BJD is not a member of the Opposition INDIA Bloc yet, Patnaik has touched BJP’s raw nerve by launching a serial attack on NDA’s designs for an ‘Opposition-free’ (Virodhi Mukt) system in India.

‘BJP A Moral Baggage’: Naveen

In a recent speech at a public meeting in Odisha, Patnaik lashed out at the BJP government, which according to him, has grown to become a “moral baggage” for the state, creating a state of waywardness on all fronts. He underlined that safety of women in Odisha was “very, very wanting”, besides the BJP was also lacking in addressing issues related to health and education.

BJP’s ‘Goonda Raj’

In a statement made in the social media, the BJD supremo listed out a chart topped by a line ‘In Odisha it is not administration but a Goonda Raj’ under BJP. He went on to cite a few “barbaric” incidents of crime against women in recent times and accused the BJP government of handing over the control of law & order to “some criminal elements” who had destroyed the social fabric, thus making Odisha as an “infamous hub of crime.”

Things became further diabolic when Patnaik expressed his anger over the recent leakage of question papers of NEET-UG (medical entrance test) and said that the Union Education Ministry must take t moral responsibility for this leakage and for shattering the dreams of lakhs of students.

On the NEET-UG question paper leakage, Patnaik has gone hammer and tongs directly accusing the Modi government for such leakages and sought a probe into the alleged roles of private coaching centres and those who are suspected to be the perpetrators of the crime.

Without naming anyone, Patnaik took an apparent swipe at the Union Education Ministry (headed by BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan from Odisha) to take the responsibility for such continuous leakage of question papers.

The writer is a freelance journalist based in Odisha, with over 40 years’ experience in the profession.