Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik Counters BJP’s ‘Jai Sri Ram’ with ‘Jai Jagannath’ Ahead of Polls

GG News Bureau
Puri, 19th Jan. Ahead of the Lok Sabha and state assembly elections, there is a political battle between the BJD and the BJP in Odisha. The ruling party in the state, BJD, has raised the slogan ‘Jai Jagannath’ to counter the BJP’s ‘Jai Sri Ram’.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik recently inaugurated the newly built corridor of the Jagannath temple in Puri. The Odisha government plans to arrange visits for about 10,000 people per day to see the project for the next month.

Assembly polls in Odisha are likely to be held along with the Lok Sabha elections this year.

A senior BJD leader mentioned that Patnaik is aware of the threats posed by the BJP and their focus on the Ram Mandir and ‘pran pratishtha’ ceremony. The BJD plans to counter the BJP’s strong Hindutva pitch with their own slogan, ‘Jai Jagannath’.

The Jagannath Temple Corridor has been developed similar to the Kashi Vishwanath temple of Varanasi and Mahakal temple of Ujjain. The inaugural ceremony was attended by representatives from several prominent temples in the country. The government has allocated funds to renovate about 10,000 temples and various places of worship in the state.

The BJP has adopted similar tactics towards the Jagannath Temple Parikrama Project as the opposition parties did with the Ram temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya. The BJP state president alleged that the parikrama project was being inaugurated as if it was a BJD event, which is why the BJP kept a distance from it.

The opposition parties, particularly the Congress, have made the same allegation against the BJP, claiming they turned the Ayodhya ceremony into a political event.

Naveen Patnaik, popularly known as ‘Naveen Babu’, will seek a mandate for his sixth consecutive term in the upcoming elections. The main opposition for him is the BJP.

In the last assembly elections, the BJD won the majority of seats, followed by the BJP and Congress. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJD won the majority of seats. Puri is considered one of the four holy shrines in Hinduism.

Lord Jagannath or Shri Krishna is worshipped there along with Balabhadra and Subhadra. The priest of the Jagannath temple mentioned that Lord Ram is respected by everyone, but Lord Jagannath holds a special place in the hearts of the people of Odisha.

The Odisha BJP leaders, along with the Vishva Hindu Parishad, are inviting people to the consecration ceremony in Ayodhya through a door-to-door drive. They are sharing videos on social media related to the Ram temple movement and incidents involving ‘karsevaks’.

Professor Sanjay Kumar, co-director of ‘Lokniti’, a research program at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, acknowledged the growing influence of religion in politics. He mentioned that the BJP is creating a countrywide narrative around the construction of the Ram temple, while opposition parties are trying to counter it in their own ways. He believes that Patnaik is in a better position to counter the BJP compared to other parties.

However, Congress’ in-charge of Odisha affairs disagreed, stating that both Lord Ram and Lord Jagannath are matters of faith and should not be used for electoral gains. Naveen Patnaik has been in power since 2000, and his consecutive victories are attributed to his government’s welfare schemes.