Twenty two BJP MLAS of Odisha Assembly, sitting on Dharana in front of Naveen Nivas (Chief Minister Patnaik’s residence) on 18th March 2021, were at their wit’s end when they saw Chief Minister coming out in hot sun and earnestly requesting them to step into his residence and join him in talks on issues concerning functioning of the House and paddy procurement from the Mandis. The agitating MLAs thought that their dharna in front of Naveen Nivas in blazing heat would badly expose the Chief Minister and his Government to public criticism and score brownie points for them. Little did they realise that Chief Minister himself would be responsive, sensitive and empathetic to them as a statesman and cordially invite to have parleys with him with exemplary spirit of accommodation, understanding and reconciliation. What was on display on that day was the soft power of persuasion and attraction of Naveen patnaik to assuage the BJP MLAs driven by their well calculated and nurtured anger and bitterness which they hoped would generate adverse publicity against the Chief Minister.
Suicide Bid by a BJP MLA
The narrative of the calculated acrimony of the BJP MLAs can be traced to the disturbances of the proceedings of the House for almost a week willfully caused by opposition MLAs belonging to both BJP and Congress citing failure of the Odisha Government to procure paddy of the farmers from the mandis. The narrative got further deepened by the ill conceived declaration of a BJP MLA Subhash Panigrahi, some days back, that he would commit suicide inside the Assembly by drinking sanitiser if paddies of the farmers would not be purchased by the Government. On 13th March he attempted to commit suicide by pouring sanitiser in his mouth but his health was not adversely affected. When Speaker of the Odisha Assembly condemned Mishra’s dastardly conduct and asked him to apologise he refused to do so and insisted that he would tender apology only when the State Agriculture Minister would apologise for the Government’s failure to procure paddy. The BJD MLAS totaling 113 in number declared that the functioning of the House would be paralysed if Subash Panigrahi failed to apologise as directed by Speaker. The prominent leaders among BJD MLAS including Organising Secretary of BJD Pranab Prakash Das took a stand that the BJP MLA’s suicide bid on the floor of the House was unprecedented, reprehensible, set a dangerous example for youth, lowered the dignity and esteem of legislature and above all tarnished the image of the people and the State of Odisha. So they relentlessly demanded that Subhas Panigrahi should unconditionally tender apology for his highly condemnable attempts to commit suicide.
BJD MLAs Met Governor on Suicide Issue
BJD MLAs also marched to the Governor of Odisha on 18th March and urged him to take note of the dangerous precedent set by BJP MLA’s suicide bid and take appropriate action as custodian of the Constitution to address the problem. Such swift and effective action of the BJD MLAs on the issue of suicide by BJP MLA had the desired effect of severely blunting the strategy of BJP to corner the Government.
BJP MLAs Dharna in Front of Naveen Nivas
Having been pushed to a corner they were floundering and they thought of tracing the Chief Minister and agitate before him. They went to the Lok Sevak Bhavan, the State Secretariat, and when informed that the Chief Minister was not there, they proceeded to his residence, Naveen Nivas, and sat on Dharna on the road outside.
Naveen’s Humane Response
On being informed that 22 BJP MLAs were agitating in the blistering heat Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik immediately came out disregarding the scorching summer day and with folded hands invited them to come to his residence and discuss with him the issues agitating them. That disposition of Chief Minister to reach out to the BJP MLAs in the searing heat had a wholesome, disarming and cooling impact. The concerned MLAs accepted the invitation and entered the premises of Navin Niwas. They were escorted inside and sandalwood paste was put on each of their forehead to honourably welcome them. Conch cells were blown as they stepped in and made to seat in front of the Chief Minister for discussing the issues. They were assured by Naveen Patnaik that the Assembly would run smoothly and other issues raised by them would be addressed by the Government. At the end of the meeting they were offered green coconut, curd, butter milk and cold drinks. The gesture of Chief Minister in reaching out to the BJP MLAs completely disarmed them and some of them said that they never thought that they would be welcomed by him with such spirit of statesmanship. It was indeed the triumph of soft power defined in terms of persuasion and attraction as opposed to attributes of imposition and domination associated with hard power. Many TV channels in Odisha and the print media described the gesture of Naveen Patnaik as noble and worthy of a statesman.
The action of Chief Minister in coming to the BJP MLAs suo motu for the purpose of consultation and engagement to address their concerns has been described by retired professor of Osmania University and currently, Senior Fellow, Indian Council of Social Science Research, professor K Srinivasulu, as noble, constructive and exemplary in the context of rising and disturbing trend of divisive politics because of which India is now rated by international think tanks as “partly free” and “electoral autocracy”. In Prof Srinivasulu’s view democracy involves a continuous process of dialogue, discussion and consultation and Naveen babu has presented a good example of it through his welcome gesture to the agitating opposition legislators. Prof AC Sinha who retired from North Eeastern Hill University, Shillong, observed, “Democracy also means decency, not the arrogance of Mody variety. Not for nothing, Patnaik survives for the fifth term. Thanks for reminding the positive side of the politics prevalent around.” In the context of Telengana Chief Minister K. C. Rao’s oft used and unacceptable foul language while commenting on opposition leaders of the State, Prof Channa, retired professor of Osmania University, said, “he and his party leaders should learn lessons of decency from Naveen Patnaik”.
Top leaders of BJP had made disparaging Remarks on Naveen
It is worthwhile to juxtapose the gesture of Naveen Patnaik towards BJP MLAs of the State vis- a -vis the disparaging remarks made by top leadership of BJP at the national level. Amit Shah while campaigning in Odisha during 2019 elections described Naveen Patnaik as “a burnt transformer”. At that time Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had said that Naveen was “the Mahanayak of violence”. On top of it Prime Minister Modi while campaigning in Kendrapara during 2019 elections had said that after the defeat of BJD in the hustings people’s farewell to Naveen Patnaik would be humiliating and insulting and none of the officers would be able to protect him. In response Naveen said that in third phase of elections for the State Assembly he secured majority and he would humbly invite Modiji to attend his swearing ceremony in Bhubaneswar for his fifth term as Chief Minister. That response was an invaluable lesson of grace and decency in sharp contrast to the derogatory remarks of none other than the Prime Minister who is expected to set high standards in public discourse and engagement.
Naveen’s Example Worth Replicating at National Level
The way in which Odisha Chief Minister dealt with agitating BJP MLAs of Odisha with courtesy, good will and respect set high standards of public engagement which remain at the core of democracy and governance. It constitutes a worthwhile example for leaders of our public life to follow and internalise.