SunstarTV Bureau: Naveen Patnaik is one of India’s longest-serving Chief Ministers, but his life before politics was anything but typical. From hanging out with Mick Jagger and Jacqueline Kennedy to traversing the poverty-ridden pockets of rural Odisha, he has had a stunning transformation. As he turn 76, here are some notes about his dreams, his regrets and how he handles tough questions with ease through a series of rare face offs.
Naveen Patnaik was born on 16 October 1946 in Cuttack, educated at the Welham Boys’ School in Dehradun, and later The Doon School. After that he completed his bachelor degree in Arts at Delhi University. Before the death of his father Biju Patnaik, Naveen was chosen himself as a writer and also had the most part of his youth been away from both politics and Odisha. After the demise of his father, he entered politics in 1997 and a year later founded the Biju Janata Dal (BJD).
Named after Biju Patnaik, Naveen won the state election with the BJP as its alliance and formed the government and became the Chief Minister of Odisha. Like father son also had followed the path of making Utkal (the former name of Odisha) as a better knowing state in country and outside. Meanwhile, he has managed to control the bureaucracy and transformed it into a machine for the development of the state.
Besides, his mild mannerism also stand against corruption and pro poor policies have resulted in the development of a huge support base in Odisha, which has voted him to power in the last five consecutive terms.
In his political career, being a supremo of the Janata Dal, he was elected as a member to the 11th Lok Sabha in the by-election from Aska Parliamentary Constituency in Odisha, India. He was a member of standing committee on commerce, and member library committee of parliament. A year later the Janata Dal split and Patnaik founded the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) which alliance with the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) performed well and Patnaik was selected the Union Minister for Mines in the cabinet for mines in the cabinet of A. B. Vajpayee.
The near-20 years in power have seasoned Naveen. So when he faced a resurgent opposition helmed by younger leaders and onset of BJP’s well-oiled electoral juggernaut, he shed that reclusive image and became social media savvy. Sponsoring a party cadre in Biju Yuva Bahini, retaining some corrupt ministers/MLAs instead of sacking them, allowing glimpses of his private life to be on social media, running in two Assembly constituencies etc. are uncharacteristic of his earlier persona, yet have chipped into his micro-marketing strategies. Weaker organizational structures of BJP and a dwindling Congress both have made matters easier for him. As BJP and Congress had a lot of BJD dissidents in their candidate lists, the TINA trope was spectacular.
Apart from leadership skills and electoral micro-management, super-successful politicians have something special about them. The phenomenon of Naveen Patnaik is a product of hard strategy that has created his seemingly charismatic halo. His no-nonsense unassuming approach to everyday politics is his oomph. Some say his studied aloofness adds to his aura and he has shrewdly converted a seemingly disadvantageous fact of his not speaking Odia in public even after living in the state for more than twenty years into an effective and deliberate political strategy. If systematically weeding out potential adversaries from his party from time to time in one ruse or the other has been his strategy to survive the dirty game of chairs so far, his replicating Narendra Modi-style publicity blitz and reaching out to both the mass and class voters through various social media and public relations management programs has been successful.
