He may have been in active politics for just 12 years, but 62-year-old Naveen Patnaik?s political acumen is well at par with those with decades more experience as became evident when his Biju Janata Dal won 13 out of 21 Lok Sabha seats and 103 of the 147 Assembly seats in Orissa.
One of the most underestimated and understated politicians of the country, Naveen?s hat-trick win in the Orissa Assembly election should settle the debate on his maturity as a politician. Having won the biggest political gamble of his career by fighting alone in the 2009 Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, his sense of timing in dropping former ally BJP is being lauded as one of his smartest moves. In fact, no politician in Orissa, even the redoubtable JB Patnaik and Naveen?s illustrious father Biju Patnaik, has ever scored hat-trick wins in the state.
When he slipped into the shoes of Biju Patnaik ? Orissa?s most popular chief minister ? in 1997, a section of opponents and colleagues alike sniggered at the novice. But they were soon forced to take him seriously when he denied a ticket to his father?s trusted colleague Bijoy Mohapatra on the eve of the 2000 Assembly elections ? 15 minutes before the nominations ended.
It was just the first of the several such political ?surgeries? he would perform over the subsequent years. The latest unwanted appendage to be lopped off by his scalpel, of course, was the BJP. To the saffron party?s shock, he showed it the door in March this year, condemning it for its ?communal? stance and for its alleged role in the Kandhamal riots of mid-2008.
Uptil the point Naveen finally dropped the bomb, the BJP was filled with genuine bravado. BJP leaders openly boasted that Naveen could only break the alliance at his own peril as the party enjoyed at least 20% popular votes. Even BJD cadres, initially, were sceptical of the decision as they questioned the wisdom of dividing the anti-Congress votes. But the BJD?s resounding win in the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls has silenced naysayers.
But what was the combination of factors that allowed Naveen to buck the anti-incumbency wave that has in the past felled many a mighty politician? Surely, it?s not his administrative efficiency as, by all accounts, Orissa?s bureaucracy is slothful and hopelessly indolent.
His record as chief minister is not exactly sparkling either ? even as the number of unemployed youth in the state swelled, Orissa was adjudged as one of the poorest states in the country where as many as 5 million people suffered from malnourishment. The Orissa Economic Survey 2008-09 said that 39.90% of the population here lived below the poverty line compared to only 32% in neighbouring Bihar.
While BJP and Congress leaders attributed the win to the Rs 2-per-kg rice scheme started by Naveen last year and the money power of the BJD, others believe it?s Naveen?s personal charisma that did the trick. ?The rice scheme did poach upon the social constituency of the Congress, but the real magic is Naveen himself. He is seen as honest and personally non-corrupt unlike the BJP and Congress leaders. This time people voted for any candidate Naveen requested them to vote for. He was the biggest factor in the 2009 election,? says Priyadarshi Mishra, a young BJD leader. Another thing that worked wonders was BJD Rajya Sabha MP Pyari Mohan Mohapatra?s strategic micro-management of the Assembly elections. In fact, he is known as the BJD?s phantom force.