Chhattisgarh has been an issue in Odisha since 2017
for the building up of reservoirs on the Mahanadi upstream, which the ruling BJD has been using to neutralise an emerging BJP challenge. But coincidentally now, it’s the sweeping win of the Congress in Chhattisgarh that matters most for the dynamics of future BJD politics and Odisha politics as a whole.
Because, as goes the saying, a thud in your neighbour could be a bang at your house, the emphatic Congress win in Chhattisgarh has offered the Odisha Congress the centre-spot to play out the Chhattisgarh game here.
Interestingly, Odisha and Chhattisgarh poll dynamics have stark similarities -- the farmers, poor lot and tribals. The fall of Chaul Baba, as CM Raman Singh is popularly known among tribal poor, in Chhattisgarh, reveals the big takeaway that the lustre of Re 1-a-kg-rice has its expiry date. It needs mentioning that the wonder scheme launched in around 2008 has been hailed by experts, jurists across the spectrum, and this Raman Singh model of PDS later became the genesis of the current Food Security Act.
Significantly, the Re 1-a-kg rice scheme was later implemented in Odisha prior to the 2009 elections, and the well-known political truth is this scheme had proved a bread-and-butter scheme for the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD Government as it reaped the harvest in electoral votes in the 2009 and 2014 elections as the scheme did to the Raman Singh-led BJP Government in Chhattisgarh in 2008 and 2013. However, the 2018 results show that such a popular scheme too has its lifespan.
The rice broth in Chhattisgarh was spoiled by farmers and jobless youths, who were in a soup over low paddy prices and few jobs. Since in politics it is the facts that look at you, Odisha too is battling with the same two gigantic unrests, which till now the BJD has ignored and not taken any perceptive policies to dissuade the growing resentment. The worrisome fact for the BJD is the State Congress will import the winning Chhattisgarh game-plan in Odisha. The party could promise the Odisha farmers to hike the MSP of paddy to a whopping Rs 2,500 perf quintal, besides bringing in farm loan waiver and pension for farmers post 60 years’ age. For the BJD, it’s impossible to declare so now given the state of State finances. And farmer agitation has haunted the State only recently when farmers under the Navnirman Krushak Sangathan have launched a massive protest with slogan of ‘Bhubaneswar Chalo’ almost demanding the same sops in Odisha. The farmer organisations are now spearheading the movement at the panchayat and block levels.
Similarly, with around 10 lakh jobless youths in Odisha in 2018, the Congress could play the Chhattisgarh ball as the Congress has declared a monthly stipend to over 10 lakh unemployed youths in Chhattisgarh.
Interestingly, the BJP’s loss is not news of comfort to the BJD. Because the Congress win will throw a grave challenge to the BJD as, unlike the BJP, the Congress has a committed base across Odisha.
