Odisha CM Naveen equals Jyoti Basu's term as second longest serving CM

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president Naveen Patnaik on Saturday equalled West Bengal’s former CM Jyoti Basu’s record as second longest serving chief minister. On Sunday, he is set to become the second longest serving CM of the country.

The 76-year-old Naveen Patnaik, who started his political career in 1997 after his father Biju Patnaik’s demise, became CM for the first time on March 5, 2000. Subsequently, he has held the CM’s position for consecutively five terms after successfully leading his party to victory in 2000, 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019 assembly elections. The maverick leader is now eying his sixth term as CM in May 2024.

Jyoti Basu served as the Chief Minister of West Bengal for 23 years and 138 days, in the 34 years of CPM’s governance.  Notably, former Chief Minister of Sikkim Pawan Kumar Chamling is the longest-serving CM of any Indian state. He became the CM of Sikkim on December 12, 1994, and continued till May 27, 2019 (24 years 5 months 15 days).

Naveen’s continuation in power for such a long period has remained an enigma for many.

Despite being the son an illustrious leader, Naveen was never active in politics until 1997 when some of his father’s old colleagues led by Bijoy Mohapatra, brought him from Delhi and introduced him to state politics by making him the president of the newly formed Biju Janata Dal (BJD) with a hope that they would reap rich electoral divided from the Biju legacy. The soft-spoken bachelor politician literally grew under the wings of veterans like Bijoy Mohapatra, Ramakrushna Patnaik, Dillip Roy and Prasanna Acharya in the initial years. Later, a bureaucrat turned politician Pyarimohan Mohapatra guided him.

Before becoming the CM of Odisha in 2000, Naveen served as a Union minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee cabinet with steel and mines portfolio.

Naveen stunned the countrymen when he very shrewdly deprived party’s most powerful leader Bijoy Mohapatra of a ticket to contest 2000 assembly elections as he sensed threat from him to his position. Between 2000 and 2012, he almost marginalised almost all the founder members of the party only to perpetuate a trouble-free administration.

In between, he also groomed a host of new leaders who are called second generation BJD leaders. Kalpataru Das, Sanjaya Das Verma, Arun Sahoo and Puspendra Singhdeo belong to this generation. While Kalapataru Das died in July 2015, many second generation leaders now find themselves sidelined and a new group of young leaders led by Pranab Prakash Das calling the shots in the party.

What is quite amazing is that Naveen does not show any kind of leniency or exhibit repentance when he ruthlessly deals with his political opponents or persons who he believes can pose a threat to him. Dozens of leaders shunted out by him from the council of ministers and the BJD have gone into oblivion after making futile efforts to challenge him.

Despite his inability to speak Odia fluently, the language of the land, - Naveen continues to get the love and affection of Odias. His party’s vote percentage has increased in successive elections – from 29.39 per cent in 2000 to 44.71 per cent in 2019. 

Despite vigorous and aggressive campaign by almost all tall leaders of the BJP, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and Dharmendra Pradhan in 2014 and 2019 assembly polls, the BJD under the leadership of Naveen Patnaik managed to hold his ground and ensured that the saffron party was content with nine and 23 seats, respectively, in the 147-member state assembly.

Political analysts attribute Naveen’s long stint in power to his  pro-poor welfare measures and empowerment of women through Mission Shakti programme.

Expressing his happiness, senior BJD leader Prasanna Acharya said, “I feel happy that our Chief Minister has equaled the record of West Bengal’s Chief Minister Jyoti Basu and he is going to break it on Sunday. I am sure that he will break all the records of the past and will emerge as the longest-serving Chief Minister of India.”

Senior BJP leader Suresh Pujari said, “That how long one served as the Chief Minister doesn’t find mention in the pages of history. Rather, those who create history in a short period make their way to the pages of history.

Comparing Naveen Patnaik to a tree, Pujari said, “The role of a huge and old tree is next to nothing if it doesn’t provide shade and if its fruits are not fit for consumption.”

In his reaction, Congress leader Santosh Singh Saluja said, “We will definitely welcome Naveen Patnaik for breaking the record of former West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu. But what pains us is that during this term, he himself is not doing anything. Democratic elements in the state are getting marginalized and bureaucrats are being encouraged by him to rule on his behalf.”