If any regional party in India has ever dominated the political landscape of a State for nearly two decades without any break, it is the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) – the party with difference. The party, founded on this day in 1997 in the name of legendary former Chief Minister and architect of modern Odisha, late Biju Patnaik, has completed its glorious 22 years in Odisha. The BJD is now synonymous of faith and hope for 4.5 crore people of Odisha due to its exemplary commitment to the development of the State. With its inspiring ideologies and value-based politics, the Biju Janata Dal continues to play a bigger role in the national politics.
BJD’s Dominance Phenomenal
The dominance of Biju Janata Dal in the political landscape of Odisha for the last 19 years has been quite phenomenal. The party formed during the most turbulent period of Odisha’s political history, has been the most successful regional party not only in the State but also in India winning every election with huge margins. It has set a new precedence in the era of electoral politics in Odisha with the unprecedented victory march, election after election.
BJD won nine parliamentary seats in the 1998 General Elections. In the 1999 General Elections, it won 10 seats. The party won a majority of seats in the State Legislative Assembly in 2000 and 2004 elections in alliance with the BJP. The party won 11 Lok Sabha seats in the 2004 elections. The BJD ended ties with the BJP prior to the 2009 state assembly elections in the aftermath of deadly communal riots in Kandhamal District. It fought the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections alone and won highest number of seats in both the elections than what the alliance had got earlier.
In the past two decades of electoral politics, the BJD set new national trends. In 2014, when the Modi wave was at its peak, it was completely opposite in Odisha. The same thing happened in the 2019 elections and the BJD comfortably retained the power for the fifth consecutive term in Odisha.
Regional Political Parties in Odisha
The BJD is the only successful regional party in Odisha having ruled the State for nearly two decades at a stretch. The Ganatantra Parishad was the first regional political party of Odisha founded by Rajendra Narayan Singh Deo in 1950. The party with royal background having former rulers of the erstwhile princely states and landlords as its members was merged with the Odisha unit of the Swatantra Party in 1962.
Orissa Jana Congress or simply Jana Congress was another regional outfit formed by former Chief Minister late Harekrushna Mahatab in 1966 when he left the Congress. The Jana Congress fared badly in the elections and subsequently merged into the Janata Party in 1977. Legendary Biju Patnaik founded Utkal Congress in 1969 after he left the Congress. The party merged into Janata Party in 1977.
Several other regional parties have also been formed since 2000. Most of them either failed to survive or are struggling for survival. The parties include Odisha Gana Parishad floated by Bijay Mohapatra, Aama Odisha Party floated by Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, Odisha Jan Mancha led by late Pyarimohan Mohapatra and the Koshal Kranti Dal.
Naveen the Sole Driving Force
The growing popularity and electoral success of the BJD is solely credited to its Supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who is adored by millions for his crystal clean image, corruption-free and transparent Government. Naveen’s pro-people and development-oriented policies have made Odisha the fastest developing economy of the country.
While receiving the Ideal Chief Minister Award earlier this year in Pune, Naveen said, “Twenty years ago I was a political novice. I would have never imagined that I will be standing here as one of the longest serving chief ministers of the country. Today, I can say with conviction, that politics is not complicated. Politics is the most powerful instrument to bring about change in the lives of people.”
Odisha, which was once infamous for hunger, poverty, and starvation deaths, is now one of the most steadily growing states in India. Its economic growth rate is much higher than the national average. The State has recorded the highest drop in poverty rate with nearly 8 million people being lifted above the poverty line in the last 10 years.
Odisha is the only state in the country to have doubled farmers’ income in the last decade. From a rice deficit State, Odisha is now the third largest contributor to the PDS system in the country.
Best Destination for Investment
Odisha today has emerged as the flag bearer state for quality investments from national and international companies. In the year 2019, it attracted 18% of all the investments that came to India – an achievement that no one can take as insignificant. Naveen’s Good politics has lead to good economics. Naveen leadership and guidance has leveraged all the advantages the state has. The better management of abundant natural resources has created a balanced development. Transparency in governance and adoption of technology has helped the state achieve what others could not. Steel, Petro Chemicals, Aluminum, Food Processing, Agriculture and allied industries are flourishing in the state with a never before pace.
5T and Mo Sarkar – The Transformation Mantra
Naveen Patnaik, who had emphasized on 3Ts – Teamwork, Transparency and Technology – during his fourth term, has now added two new dimensions – Time and Transformation to make it the 5-T mantra to accelerate the growth process and revitalize the administrative competence. The Mo Sarkar initiative for effective service delivery in government departments has been successfully implemented in the Police Stations and Hospitals of the state. There has been tremendous response to the initiative and people are happy with the outcome. The Government intends to include all departments under the Mo Sarkar program bringing in the true transformation of the service delivery mechanism.
Naveen’s ‘people first’ approach has not only helped him become one of the longest-serving chief ministers in India, but also the ideal chief minister in the country.
At 23, BJD is Invincible
As the BJD turned 23 today, the party is growing from strengthen to strengthen. People from various walks of life are joining the Naveen-led party.
CM Naveen Patnaik has been instrumental in bringing about Odisha’s turnaround. The watchword seems to have been to raise standards and governance levels quite across the board. The early move to set up Biju Patnaik University of Technology to shore up skills appears to have paid rich dividends; Odisha is now a regional educational hub. It has led to a very promising knowledge and information technology industry, and more. The entire process of investment solicitation and follow-through policy action has gone digital. Information technology tools have been deployed to remove opacity and rev up efficiency.
The early focus on leveraging iron ore and bauxite resources to boost downstream value-addition has hugely improved funds flow, and has led to formation of other clusters such as petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals and food-processing. In tandem, path-breaking social policies like the Mamata scheme for expectant mothers, which has been replicated nationwide, or health and income-support schemes, have been pioneering. Naveen Patnaik, who makes it a point to be friendly across the political divide, would appear to hold lessons for fellow chief ministers.
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