How the BJP’s politics of ‘Odia self-respect’ helped it win Odisha

The simultaneous elections to Odisha’s Lok Sabha and state assembly seats this May-June will earn a place in history for two reasons: it marked the end of the 24-year-old uninterrupted reign of Naveen Patnaik – India’s second longest serving chief minister – and brought the first Bharatiya Janata Party government to power in the state.

But what is truly stunning is that the 2024 verdict is perhaps the only instance in Indian politics when a national political party defeated a regional political party after contesting an election on the theme of regional pride – Odia asmita, or self-respect.

For most political analysts in Odisha, this astounding result came to pass because of one major error by the ruling Biju Janata Dal. The party, with the blessings of its chief, allowed a Tamilian and former bureaucrat to become the face of the campaign and gave the BJP an extraordinary opportunity to whip up sentiments about Odia pride.

However, a case can be made that the BJP did not just benefit on account of this error by its opponent. For roughly seven years, the national party had also carefully amassed considerable legitimacy within Odisha as an organisation that apparently cares about the pride of the Odia people.

To understand why...

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