Alliance Muddle: Does Perception Matter To BJD & BJP In Odisha Politics?

Bhubaneswar: No matter what the outcome of the ongoing seat-sharing talks involving the BJD and the BJP, both parties are apparently losing the perception battle ahead of simultaneous Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections in Odisha.

Politics, they say, runs on perception of the public. And, the goings on in the politicosphere of this eastern state during the past few days have made it amply clear that the two parties can be good at political opportunism. When it comes to making compromises for benefits, political and otherwise, both parties have a demonstrated history of turning adversity into advantage even if it meant throwing their avowed stands to the wind.

Embittered and embarrassed by being dumped by the BJD in the run-up to the 2009 polls, the BJP in Odisha has been struggling to nail down the Naveen Patnaik-led outfit for the last 15 years, caught as it is between the compulsions of national politics and contradictions of its regional narratives. Somewhere it has lost the plot while trying to figure out whether it should treat the BJD as its friend or foe. This confusion, apparent from its attempt to cobble a coalition with the regional party although it is the main Opposition party in the state, has not only stunted its growth despite Odisha being fertile ground but also made it look wanting in front of the political guile and electoral apparatus of the BJD.

In such a scenario, the BJP faces an unenviable dilemma as it stands to suffer if it goes for an alliance and also if it doesn’t. It would get roasted either way because its dalliance with the BJD, especially over the past five years, has left little doubt in the minds of the electors that the saffron brigade is more interested in maximising a good political harvest from Odisha rather than fight for the cause of the 4.5 crore people of the state and become a genuine alternative to Naveen’s BJD.

The BJD, too, has harmed its own cause by seemingly siding with the BJP and practically giving up on its raison d’être of protecting regional aspirations and interests. It has in recent years all but given up on its plank of central neglect, which had earlier helped it consolidate its position as Odisha’s numero uno party and given it rich electoral dividends. Alongside central neglect, its policy of equidistance from the BJP and the Congress has also been turned on its head as it has grown in proximity to Narendra Modi and Co to a point that it is now on the verge of rejoining the NDA. The BJD’s professed claim of being secular in 2009 after severing ties with the BJP in the wake of ethno-communal riots in Kandhamal would also return to haunt the ruling party as it had portrayed BJP as “communal”.

Founded in December 1997 in memory of the legendary Biju Patnaik after breaking away from the erstwhile Janata Dal, BJD has its moorings more in socialism with a slight left of the Centre approach. However, in its bid to retain power it has over the past two decades shown such remarkable flexibility that it owes a lot of explaining regarding its ideological basis. From aligning with the BJP (1998 to 2009) to forming an alliance with CPI, CPM, NCP and JMM (2009-2014), the BJD’s stand has oscillated depending on the political posturing it has sought for itself. Between 2009 and 2014, when the Congress-led UPA government was at the Centre, it smartly played the equidistant card although it remained titled towards the coalition in power. And, after facing the BJP’s belligerence between 2014 and 2019, it has again become cozy with the saffron party in the last five years. A remarriage with the BJP could effectively mean that the BJD sees no harm in diluting its principles if it entails retention of power. Biju, for the uninitiated, had all along kept himself away from the BJP and even described it as a “signboard party”. That evidently counts for nothing in the Machiavellian world of realpolitik.

Perception, after all, could mean little in today’s era of “Paltu Ram” politics when money can buy voters’ wisdom and ideology is best confined to books! Which is why, the ruling party and its principal rival in Odisha are out to prove the proverbial saying ‘politics makes strange bedfellows’ true. Perception and principles, then, can certainly wait for another day!