Friends and foes swear by Biju Patnaik's legacy in Odisha elections

It is Biju Patnaik versus Naveen Patnaik in the 21 constituencies of Odisha in this Lok Sabha election. None more so than in Kendrapara, which Naveen describes as his father’s karmabhoomi. It dominates discussions in shops in Tinimohani, the busiest traffic junction in the town, or in the emu farm at Marshaghai village.

The duo has dominated Odisha politics ever since Biju Patnaik won a by-election to an assembly seat from Rajnagar, one of the seven in the Kendrapara constituency, in 1974. Within three years of his death, Naveen Patnaik almost para dropped into the state as almost an unknown to become chief minister. He has been in the seat for 19 years. And when people vote for the chief minister, they vote for both him and his bapa. Naveen, never a great speaker, sought votes on his unsullied record of corruption and the Bjiu legacy. It has been an invariant tune.

This time, though, the tune is playing from different corners. Other than Naveen’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the BJP and even the Congress have tuned in. One reason is that some of Naveen’s lieutenants from his BJD have deserted him this time. None more so than the BJP candidate from Kendrapara, Baijayant Panda, who has been a parliamentarian for 10 years for the BJD. His principal opponent is Anubhav Mohanty from BJD, also no political rookie, having been Rajya Sabha member from the same party. From Nabarangpur in western Odisha to Kendrapara in the east, the Biju card is not the same as the Naveen card any more.

Kendrapara goes to the polls on April 29, the last day of the four-phase polls in Odisha. It is almost an encore of the father-son theme, which has played out through the state from Koraput to Keonjhar. Other states like Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh also have father-son themes, but there is space for contenders. In Odisha, it is unidimensional.

In the intense sultry heat of Odisha’s coastal afternoons, Panda is conducting an intense campaign, saying why the constituency has been in the boondocks. It revolves on the promise of what it was promised by Biju and what has not been carried through by his son, Naveen.

At the packed compound adjacent to the Gourishanker Hotel, this is a vexing issue, too. Almost every family, including lower middle-class ones in Odisha, has a member who works outside the state.

The entry to Bhubaneswar Railway Station is one of the most decked-up ones in India, standing next to the city’s busiest traffic junction. The airport next door sings through the night, with local flights departing from the city even at 2 in the morning. Behind me on the Indigo flight to the city, there is a huge group of workers returning from Turkey (Indigo has a code share arrangement with Turkish airlines), some of them a bit sad because they couldn’t make it in time for the polls in Sundargarh and Sambalpur.

At Marshaghai village, Hemanta Kar is a farmer with an emu farm. “There were 10 I had reared, but only six are left now. The investment has not worked out.” He has about eight acres too, but has sent both his sons out to study. “There is no farm labourer around. No one likes the hard work in the farms, pulling out weeds. The minimum wage we offer is about Rs 400 per day, but they would rather work as office boys in cities even if the pay is lower.”

The village is drying up an irrigation channel that winds through its farms to instead provide space for houses for retired Odisha emigres. One of Kar’s nephews is doing well as a professor at Rourkela and provides occasional income support to the uncle.

Odisha, like West Bengal to its east and Jharkhand up north, is sending more workers outside the state than finding jobs for them. A state labour department reply to the legislature in 2017 puts the compound annual growth rate (of migration) at 7.68 per cent. The decadal migration rate, according to the census for the previous decade, was much lower. Nityananda Das, a farmer in this predominantly rural constituency, sums up: “The voters know the state can do better but are not sure how.” Blaming the Biju-Naveen legacy does not come easy in this state. 

Which is why both Panda and Mohanty claim to be inheritors of the Biju legacy. So does each of the candidates for the seven assembly seats. Bhuban Mohan Jena, state BJP vice-president, agrees the Biju legacy is ubiquitous. “But I would say that it is history. It is the vision of Narendra Modi that animates the voters. This will decide the fate of the elections this time in Odisha.”