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Biju Janata Dal leader Naveen Patnaik created the political and electoral circumstances which helped him to return to power in Orissa for the third consecutive term. He took a calculated risk in terminating the party’s 11-year-old alliance with the BJP but the gamble more than paid off with the BJD winning a two-thirds majority in the Assembly. The dissociation from the BJP helped the party to escape the blame for the communal attacks in Kandhamal orchestrated by the Sangh Parivar. An alliance with the Left parties boosted its secular credentials. The result was a sweep, with the BJD winning 103 seats in the 147-member House, the Congress tally falling from 38 to 27 and the BJP’s strength from 32 to six. The Congress, which was expected to benefit from the break-up of the ruling alliance, could only see an erosion of its strength. But again, as in Andhra Pradesh, the voters’ wisdom and sense of judgment can be seen from the fact that the Congress’ Lok Sabha tally went up from two to six, although its Assembly representation declined.
The clean image of the chief minister and the none-too-bad record of governance provided good electoral planks. Populist schemes like the Rs 2 a kg rice scheme helped the government, as they did the incumbent governments in neighbouring AP and in Chhattisgarh. Naveen was also seen as serious and well-intentioned in promoting development of the resource-rich but poor state. Naveen’s growth through successive terms in office is a good case study of a leader who started with nothing more than a legacy but developing into a charismatic leader through sincerity, hard work and sound political sense.
The massive mandate reflects the high expectations of the people from the new government. Patnaik has to ensure the safety of the minorities and completely erase the taint of Kandhamal. Orissa was being seen as another laboratory of Hindutva, like Gujarat. Development has to move beyond proposals to concrete action to lift one of the poorest states in the country out of the morass. This will also require proper handling of the problems of land rights and displacement of tribals in a state where 25 per cent of the population is tribal. Most of the state’s districts are affected by Maoist insurgency, which is steadily growing. Expectations from Paknaik will be more than ever now and if he fails, he will not have no one to shift the blame to.