PM Narendra Modi scores even as CM Naveen Patnaik still critiqued over weak Odia

BHUBANESHWAR: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the temple town of Bhubaneshwar was peppered with gestures identifying with Odisha’s culture and history. A matter in which he seems to have stolen a march over chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who despite three uninterrupted terms in power, is still critiqued for his faltering command over the Odiya language.

On Sunday, PM laid a bael (wood apple) leaf on the Shiva linga at the 11th century Lingaraj temple, participated in the chanting of the maha mrityunja mantra, and followed this up with a visit to goddess Bhubaneshwari and parbati. He also met the descendants of the 1817 Paika revolution and garlanded pictures of Madhusan Das Gopabandhu Das, Maharaja Krushna Chandra Gajapati and Gangadhar Meher, tall figures who have played second fiddle to Biju Patnaik till now.

The BJP’s national executive meet organised in a state that the party plans to win in 2019 was a well-choreographed narrative that will be hard for Patnaik to neutralise. BJP president Amit Shah who arrived a day earlier had, for example, participated in the Odia new year celebrations, drinking pana (traditional drink) and participated in sankirtan.

“Patnaik’s lack of identification with Odisha’s culture, is a sorer point with his critics than his governance,” noted a politician who preferred not to be named.