when a new regime takes over the reins from one that has ruled for decades, there is a temptation to disrupt everything in the name of projecting the arrival of a new era under a new regime
Sutanu Guru
Much has already been written, talked and debated about one year of the first ever BJP led regime in the history of Odisha. News cycles are so dizzyingly fast that even surprising or perhaps shocking news becomes normal after some time. Around this time last year in 2024, supporters of the then ruling BJD and chief minister Naveen Patnaik were in a state of shock.
Virtually no BJD leader had expected that the party would lose the assembly elections. Sure, there was a lot of resentment even within the party over the role played by V. K. Pandian. But defeat was unimaginable. Conversely, despite the election campaign rhetoric, no BJP leader seriously expected the party to win such a clear majority in the assembly elections. In fact, they had reason to be surprised. The vote share of the BJD was actually marginally higher than that of the BJP. But then, that is reality of first past the post scenarios in elections.
One year down the road, ardent supporters of the BJD have slammed the BJP government for alleged incompetence, mismanagement, corruption, lawlessness and worse. For their part, BJP supporters have not shied away from listing out the many “stellar” achievements of the government, including the Subhadra scheme and the inflow of investments into the state. Political leaders and party workers will always fight over these issues. That is their job. But the author looks at the current situation in Odisha in a different way.
The author thinks the real major achievement of the Mohan Charan Majhi has been that there has been a level of continuity and stability in long term policies and goals that is reassuring. Often, when a new regime takes over the reins from one that has ruled for decades, there is a temptation to disrupt everything in the name of projecting the arrival of a new era under a new regime. Quite often, new regimes tend to throw the baby out with the bath water.
Mercifully, the BJP government has done no radical changes that could have been disruptive. That in itself is an achievement. And that will reman the real challenge for Mohan Charan Majhi and his team as they run Odisha for the next four years.
Political partisanship makes it difficult for a lot of people at accept some fundamental realities. While no. Government or regime is blameless and all governments and regimes make mistakes, one fundamental reality as far as Odisha is concerned is that Naveen Patnaik did a very good job as the chief minister of Odisha for almost 25 years.
Sure there is still a lot of poverty that forces poor folks to migrate to other states and cities in search of livelihoods. Sure, many human development indicators are woeful. But if you look at the comparative performance of states that were at the bottom of the barrel of poor states in India at the turn of this century, Odisha has done incredibly well. At the beginning of the 21st century, the per capita income of Bihar was about Rs 6,000; that of Odisha was about Rs 7,000 and West Bengal boasted of more than Rs 10,000. As per the estimates of 2024-25, the per capita income of Bihar is Rs 60,000; that of West Bengal is about Rs 1,54,000 and of Odisha is Rs 1,75,000.
Look at it this way: West Bengal has a two-century old legacy of industrialisation, education and cultural dominance. And yet, for whatever reasons, Odisha now outperforms West Bengal on almost all parameters. Almost all the transformation has happened in this century. So any objective analyst and commentator must give credit to Naveen Patnaik and his government. As a form of critique, one can say that perhaps more reforms and a more aggressive push towards growth and employment is needed. But that would be continuity; not a structural break.
The author would like to highlight one more data set to show how Mohan Charan Majhi has inherited a state that is far from being in a state of crisis or disrepair. Since 2017, India has adopted the GST regime that has replaced excise and sales tax being imposed separately by states in most cases.
GST collections are a very powerful indicator of the relative depth and intensity of economic activity in any state. What were the collections for Bihar, Odisha and West Bengal in April 2025? For Bihar, it was Rs 2290 crores. For Odisha, it was Rs 6174 crores and it was Rs 8188 crores for West Bengal. One can say that Bengal is number one in eastern India when it comes to GST collections.
But hold on, the population of Bihar and West Bengal is about three times that of Odisha. So when you look at per capita terms, Odisha is miles ahead of even West Bengal.
For obvious political reasons, Mohan Charan Majhi cannot praise the performance of his predecessor Naveen Patnaik. But looked at objectively from a distance, it does appear that Majhi and his team have quietly taken steps in their first year in office to maintain continuity and not indulge in severe disruptions.
One hopes the BJP regime maintains this pragmatic approach.
(Author has been a media professional for over 3 decades. He is now Executive Director, C Voter Foundation. Views are Personal)
