By Trilokya Jena
Bhubaneswar : Odisha surprisingly changed its political course in the 2024 general elections by throwing out the almost quarter century long BJD rule under Navin Patnaik. By delivering 20 MPs to the BJP, it not only saved Modi’s chair at the centre, but also stunned the BJD to win the State Assembly too to have its own Chief Minister.
A grateful BJP government at the Centre acknowledged Odisha’s contribution by attaching high priority to the State as no government at the Centre had done ever before. The State, already on a high path of growth and prosperity, was expected to take full advantage of its position to zoom on the developmental path. Though it is still ranking among high growth States, Odisha hasn’t exactly zoomed into the promised future as the progress card of the local BJP government shows over two years of its existence. Many view it as waste of precious time involving heavy opportunity cost.
Before analysing how and why Odisha has come to this pass, and who exactly is failing Odisha, it’d be worthwhile to examine the context of the State at the BJP take over.At the turn of the century, Odisha ranked among the bottom-tier states in India for both economic and human development parameters, featuring low per capita income and high poverty rates. Odisha’s per capita net state domestic product was roughly ₹10,453, about 56% of the national average, placing it firmly in the lower bracket of major Indian states. The economy relied heavily on a vulnerable primary agriculture sector that contributed roughly 35% of the GSDP, subject to frequent weather shocks and natural disasters. The State was crippled by the catastrophic 1999 Super Cyclone. Poverty levels worsened as more than half the rural population went below poverty line. Its Human Development Index(HDI) that was already languishing at bottom three of all major Indian States lagging well behind national average. Deep regional disparities with remote hinterlands and heavily populated ST and SC districts, created glaring internal divides within the state.
That’s the scenario Navin Patnaik walked into in early 2000. Serendipity, in form of China’s heavy mineral and steel demand for its Beijing Olympics infrastructure work, boosted Odisha’s economy as never seen before. The State made rapid strides to rise up the national index ladder. Odisha’s per capita income rose from around ₹15000 in 2000 to over ₹150,000 in 2024.However, amidst such sterling economic growth, Navin government too lost some golden opportunities to push the State higher on the development trajectory. Notable among those was the reluctance, or inability, to provide support to the POSCO project which was launched as the highest FDI into the country at its time. Equally significant was his failure to withstand Rahul Gandhi’s onslaught on the promising copper industry under the pretext of environmental and tribal protection which, many believe, was at the behest of foreign interests. That unfortunately cost the State to a great extent affecting manufacturing the scale of which could have transformed its entrepreneurial landscape and employment potential.
When Navin left in 2024, the BJP in its wisdom chose Mohan Charan Majhi to assume the role of Chief Ministership. This was a surprise selection, like we’ve seen in many other BJP ruled States that constitute the ‘BJP Conundrum’ where Chief Ministers are pulled out of no where, most of whom fail. The inability or unwillingness of the Party to choose fitting leadership from within its cadre is a phenomenon not confined to Odisha alone. If one is randomly asked to name the present CMs of say Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan or Delhi, many will struggle for names. The same is applied even more to Odisha if the question is asked outside the State. This phenomenon may not affect the integrity or enthusiasm of the incumbents, but it certainly reflects their leadership quality, vision and effectiveness.. Popularly known BJP CMs namely Yogi of UP, Biswa Sarma of Assam and Subhendu Adhikari of WB, are either from outside BJP or nurtured outside the Party’s typical cadre structure like Yogi. Coincidentally, the Party insiders clearly lag in political chutzpah and leadership drive. The result is for all to see in respect of the States’ administrative efficiency and entrepreneurial drive.
Mohan Majhi’s reign in Odisha falls into that general pattern where it can be seen that the State seems to run on auto pilot and the momentum is slowing down by the day in spite of such support from the Centre. This is a worrying sign for Odisha as recent events have diluted its position in India’s East. With Bihar having a BJP CM at last, and most importantly, Subhendu Adhikari delivering WB and consolidating BJP there through his dynamism, Odisha gets pushed down in the pecking order.
In this highly competitive BJP leadership formation in the East, Odisha is likely to lose out unless its CM shows leadership and drive at the level of other CMs of the region. Presently he is protected by the momentum of growth that is still an impressive 7.9%. But the potential is for more as most factors are in his favour So what are the problems that hinder Odisha to really take off? Odisha’s growth is challenged by an over-reliance on raw mineral extraction, low agricultural productivity, and persistent regional disparities. Structural bottlenecks continue to limit its full developmental potential. For so long Odisha has relied only on raw material export over value addition. Slow urbanisation and infrastructure gaps are not handled with required dynamism. Balancing rapid industrialisation with tribal rights, forest conservation, and ecological protection creates complex socio-political hurdles for large-scale project execution. This is where the leadership falters as Odisha’s political leadership is over reliant on bureaucracy. The bureaucratic apathy can be judged from this example.
On the next lane to where I stay in Bhubaneswar, there was the office of a private drone manufacturing company. I used to witness its burgeoning activities while taking evening walks through that lane. I came to know the great demand for its products during Operation Sindoor which impressed me. Few months after when I was back in Bhubaneswar, I found that Company gone. I made enquiries and got the answer from their Lawyer who is a friend’s son based in Delhi. He stunned me by saying the Company’s woes when their effort to get infrastructure support was not forthcoming from the State government. Then somehow Yogi Adityanath got wind of the venture and granted everything they wanted in two days flat! Now the Company is based in UP.
The legacy of bureaucratic control over development project goes back to Navin Patnaik era whose foundation was laid by a CM not conversant with Odisha’s culture and terrain. In his initial years, Navin was over dependent on a bureaucrat turned politician, Pyari Mohan Mohapatra, a nasty piece of work both as a bureaucrat and a politician. The style of depending on bureaucrats over grassroots political leadership was Mohapatra’s idea passed on to Navin. BJP has inherited that legacy as critics point at the additional burden of bureaucrats from PMO controlling Odisha administration. No wonder that the CM is all at sea. The current situation, therefore, falls into the BJP conundrum as Odisha is poised to be overtaken by other Eastern States whose leaderships seem stronger and more dynamic in comparison. It’s now upto the Party to take a view if it has fresh direction for Odisha or it’d simply let the State drift as it has acquired bigger trophies in the region.
(Mr. Jena is a former Senior IRS officer who had served the Indian Government as Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax.)
