Mumbai: Away from the hustle and bustle of the poll campaign, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday took centre stage at the Sportstar award function in Mumbai. And he was at his effervescent best.
Addressing the glitterati function attended by a bevy of sporting icons, Naveen weaved a fascinating analogy between politics and sports, saying both are no different from each other.
“Generally Ministers are used to giving away sports Awards. Today you must be surprised to see me getting one. Well, you see, politics is not very different from Sports. We have to run, duck, jump, catch, sprint. Sometimes you don’t even know which direction you are running. Sometimes you throw and sometimes you are thrown out,” Naveen quipped, evoking spontaneous cheers from the crowd.
He said passion is the cornerstone to succeed both in sports and politics.
“In sports passion to win a game will make you a winner. But passion for the game will make you an icon. Similarly in politics passion for power will make you win elections. Passion to serve will make you win people. A competitive spirit is the hallmark of both disciplines. Without this spirit, great achievements are not possible,” he underlined.
In this context, he gave the example of the state government’s initiative to convert kuchha houses into pucca houses in Odisha. He said that because of the competitive spirit among the districts, a record two million families across the state got shelter securities.
Lauding the Hindu group for instituting the award, Naveen said it has created a competition among states for promotion of sports.
He received the ‘state of the year award’ for promoting sports.
Investing in sports, Naveen said, is investing in youth and investing in youth is investment in the future.
While Odisha government is the official sponsor of the Indian hockey team, the CM batted for the states adopting other games for the benefit of the sports ecosystem in the country.
“We may not have to wait too long for the world to hear our National Anthem being played at the Olympic state,” he said.
