July 22, 2023, marks another significant milestone in Naveen Patnaik’s political career. Having ruled Odisha for 23 years four months and 17 days, Patnaik has broken Jyoti Basu’s enviable record as the second-longest-serving chief minister of an Indian state. If he wins a sixth term next summer, Patnaik in August 2024 would go on to break the record of Sikkim’s Pawan Kumar Chamling and become the longest-serving chief minister of any Indian state.
Appearing out of nowhere after the death of his stalwart father Biju Patnaik in 1997, he stormed onto the forefront of Odisha politics. Not much was known about him to the people of Odisha till then. Before joining politics, in his past life, known as Pappu to his family and friends, Naveen Patnaik was a jet-setting socialite—an esteemed member of the high life in New Delhi and New York where he hobnobbed with the likes of Jackie Kennedy and Mick Jagger. Like his famous sister, author Gita Mehta, he also wrote books on royal arts, Bikaner Rajputs, and the healing plants of India.
After inheriting the party his father led, he first won the Lok Sabha by-election from Aska in 1997, a seat that fell vacant following Biju Patnaik’s demise, and then he split the party the same year to form the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and allied with the BJP in 1998. Patnaik joined Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government as union cabinet minister for steel and mines in 1998 and continued till 2000.
Meanwhile, three unrelated but significant incidents in 1999 marked the misrule of Congress chief minister JB Patnaik—the gruesome murder of missionary Graham Staines, the shame of a shocking gang rape, and the mishandling of the super cyclone. JB Patnaik quickly became a villain, and the people of Odisha decided to punish him for his “dirty politics”. They put their faith in Biju Patnaik’s son, which paved the way for Naveen Patnaik to return to Odisha as its chief minister in March 2000. He has been ruling the state uninterrupted ever since.
But how did Naveen Patnaik get this far?
The key reasons why his love affair with the people of Odisha continues without a break-up are a slew of populist measures and a robust and well-entrenched party cadre that works tirelessly. His increasing reliance on bureaucratic machinery has come in for criticism, but it has ensured the successful implementation of his development programmes and has taken governance to doorsteps, easing people’s lives.
His effective handling of cyclone rescue and relief efforts and Odisha sponsoring the national hockey teams have earned him recognition within and outside the country, making him a trendsetter. He has made Odisha the hockey capital of India. Having no national ambitions, Patnaik is able to focus on Odisha single-mindedly. He has steadfastly refused to ally with any political bloc and maintains cordial relations with the Narendra Modi government.
Not only are there excellent roads and a visible sign of development in the state, but his government has also been building critical physical infrastructure such as schools, stadiums, and bus stops. Keeping in mind the religious nature of his people, Patnaik has been building infrastructure around famous temples across Odisha. At the same time, he has maintained his secular image by not offending the sentiments of the minority communities even though their presence in the state is minuscule. This explains why in 2009, after the Kandhamal riots, Patnaik had snapped ties with the BJP. All votes matter; every vote counts.
To his credit, Patnaik has kept the peace-loving state largely free of violence. Unlike the West Bengal panchayat polls held recently amid reports of large-scale violence, last year the BJD had quietly made a clean sweep of both panchayat and urban local body polls without any major incident of bloodshed.
Patnaik has maintained a super clean image over the last 25 years. There were serious allegations of corruption against his government over the chit fund and mining scams, but the chief minister escaped scrutiny and hardly faced any criticism.
It is said that almost all BJD leaders have been winning their Lok Sabha and assembly seats in the name of Patnaik. He is the lord and master of his party without a second-in-command. Party insiders say Patnaik is both a shrewd and ruthless politician. He doesn’t entertain troublemakers of any kind. Thanks to Patnaik, the flourishing careers of many politicians including some of his father’s close aides, have died prematurely. He neither forgets nor forgives.
Two questions frequently arise in discussions about Odisha politics: what about the 76-year-old Patnaik’s health condition and what after him? Even though his trusted lieutenant and private secretary VK Pandian’s recent tours to districts as his representative fit into this narrative, any speculation over who will inherit the BJD is an exercise in futility. So far the chief minister has not hinted anything.
Instead, he said during the silver jubilee celebrations of the party’s foundation day last December that if the “mothers and sisters” of Odisha want, “the BJD will be there for not 25 or 50 years, but for the next 100 years”. He said the BJD is a social movement that doesn’t depend on one or two persons. As far as the buzz about his health is concerned, Patnaik laughed it off last year, saying every time there was an election, rumours started floating about his condition.
In the much-talked-about Netflix series “The Romantics”, actor Anil Kapoor says filmmaker Aditya Chopra has surpassed his great father Yash Chopra’s legacy. Similarly, having swept five consecutive assembly polls and winning a majority of Lok Sabha seats in successive general elections, Naveen Patnaik has surpassed his father Biju Patnaik’s political legacy. Patnaik is yet to lose a single election since his 1997 Aska by-poll victory whereas his father had faced a series of defeats. Unlike most dynasts, Naveen Patnaik is a self-made politician. Biju Patnaik didn’t introduce his son to politics. For sure, he built his career on his father’s legacy but took it to a whole new level on his own.
Naveen Patnaik has emerged as a giant of Odisha politics without parallel and has carved out a permanent place for himself in the Odia psyche. No debate on that.
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