Puri, Odisha: The midday heat outside the Sri Jagannath Temple in Puri bore more than a hint of an unrelenting summer ahead. But it was business as usual for the pandas (temple priests), herding hundreds of devotees into the temple precincts and guiding them through the rituals inside the garva griha (sanctum sanctorum) where the presence of the idol-trio of Sri Jagannath, Balaram and Shubhadra — the revered Hindu deities in this eastern Indian state of Odisha — evoked a trance-like state of belligerence from the worshippers.
Minutes later, there was a bit of a commotion just outside the temple as the road near the Purva Dwar (eastern gate) was suddenly flooded with a sea of green flags bearing the ubiquitous Biju Janata Dal (BJD) party symbol of a conch shell. An ‘army’ of motorcycle riders milled around what looked like an improvised chariot hurriedly erected on a mini-truck. “Naveen’s men — in all pomp and glory,” said Bharat Patnaik, one of the priests, who had just given his duties inside the temple the miss to catch a glimpse of the passing cavalcade. Patnaik’s reference was obviously to Naveen Patnaik, the three-time chief minister of Odisha, looking to create a record of sorts in the state by winning a fourth term as Odisha holds simultaneous elections to the state assembly and Lok Sabha. Reacting to a query on how strong were BJD’s chances of buffering the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) gung-ho push for a more muscular presence in eastern India in terms of seats in the ongoing parliamentary elections, Bharat told Gulf News: “No matter what national issues we have on our hands right now, so far as Odisha is concerned, these elections, even the parliamentary one, are primarily being fought on the development plank and on that count it’s difficult to ignore Naveen’s role in trying to transform Odisha. His push for the state’s economic development is there for everyone to see and I don’t think BJP will be able to make much of a dent into the Naveen/BJD vote bank.”
Bharat’s views were echoed by just about every single one of his temple peers present nearby. Similar opinion was shared by Jajati Karan, who ferries passengers from Puri railway station to many of the hotels and resorts dotting Marine Drive and Swargadwar along the beach. On being asked how much of an impact the defection of a popular face like Baijayanta (Jai) Panda from BJD to BJP will have on these elections, Karan told Gulf News: “Jai Panda is undoubtedly a well-known face in the state’s political circle, but his popularity is restricted to just his own parliamentary constituency of Kendrapara and is unlikely to have much of an impact on BJP’s fortunes in the rest of the state. Overall, from just one Lok Sabha seat in 2014 (BJD had won all of the remaining 20 seats), this time, the BJP tally is likely to go up to around six in the best-case scenario, but that is it. And in the state assembly, people of Odisha are once again set to repose their faith on Naveen because of his development agenda.”
With a 96 per cent Hindu population and a sizeable backward caste and Dalit (lower castes) presence, Odisha has still steadfastly managed to keep issues of religion and caste at bay when it comes to electoral politics. Perhaps that is why even with a rather strong candidate in Sambit Patra, the national spokesperson of the party, for the prestigious Puri Lok Sabha seat, the BJP is finding the going tough in this temple town and popular beach-front. And the story is by and large the same in the rest of the state. With BJP likely to lose fair bit of ground in northern and western India in these general elections, states such as Odisha and West Bengal in the east are crucial for the party to neutralise the haemorrhage in the ‘cow-belt’. However, so far as Odisha is concerned, the BJP’s ‘look east’ mantra could be up against a major stumbling block.
“The success formula that had yielded BJP rich dividends in Assam and Tripura in past years is unlikely to work here,” said Giridhar Sahu, manager at a popular beach resort near the Puri lighthouse. “With no major communal or caste issue to bank on, development of the state is the only major talking point and on that count Naveen is ahead. True, the vote share for BJP is fast rising in the state and BJP stands to make some significant gains this time in terms of number of seats, but it may still not be enough to dislodge the current state government from power,” he explained.”
