Naveen Is God’s Chosen Child To Serve People Of Odisha: Pinaki Mishra

Naveen Is God’s Chosen Child To Serve People Of Odisha: Pinaki Mishra

Puri has once again reposed its faith in Pinaki Mishra. An eminent lawyer, Mishra represented the prestigious Parliamentary Constituency thrice in the past and made a hattrick as Biju Janata Dal candidate with the victory against BJP’s Sambit Patra in a close fight this time.

In an interaction with My City Links, Mishra talked about the election, plans to rebuild Puri which has witnessed unprecedented devastation and his personal role in restoration for which he already has announced to donate five years’ salary and allowances to the Chief Minster Relief Fund. Excerpts –

Do you think that this was the toughest election for you, considering that it was such a close contest? 
No election is an easy one, every election is tough. Congress which was number two in my constituency last time collapsed making Puri election a bipolar contest which is why it got a bit tight. We were expecting it and were ready for it. We knew the margin would be small but we will win at the end. 

Your rival Sambit Patra ran a spirited campaign and even a heavyweight like Maheswar Mohanty lost from his Assembly seat. What do you think worked for you?
Parliament elections are an aggregation of seven assembly segments. The mistake people make in believing is that Puri Parliamentary Constituency is all about Puri Assembly segment. Puri has six other assembly segments which are equally important. We have to do a post mortem to see why Maheswar Mohanty lost. Though he lost by a small margin, but a loss is a loss nonetheless. I trailed in Puri quite heavily and that’s why the margin became much smaller. 

Definitely, there was a bit bump for Narendra Modi after Balakot, and because of that only Patra got more traction than he would have got otherwise. Yes, it may have looked like a spirited campaign but at the end of the day, the election machine of BJD is a strong one and that worked for us. 

Despite the Modi wave, BJD had a comfortable win in the state. What worked for the party? Is it just the Naveen magic?
Without doubt, Naveen magic is unique. Coming to power for the fifth consecutive term is an extraordinary feat. Even an experienced administrator like Chandrababu Naidu was swept away this time. It is difficult to meet the aspirations of people today. Obviously Naveen Patnaik’s image is for his policies and the fact that he works 24/7, 365 days in a year for the upilftment of the people of Odisha. Along with that, he has fashioned BJD into a magnificent election machine. All these factors together make him a formidable opponent. The way he withstood a Modi wave of 2014 and a tsunami of 2019, he is obviously God’s chosen child to serve Odisha.

BJD’s numbers in Lok Sabha have come down this time. What do you think would be the strategy for the party in the Parliament? What would be the equation with NDA? 
We want to work in close partnership with the Central Government. We have to, as we need a lot of handholding by the Centre after this terrible cyclone. We are prone to cyclones, drought and floods. The Central Government must recognise that Odisha gives a large amount of money to the Central kitty. Railway takes Rs 20,000 crores from here, the mining sector picks up almost Rs 50,000-60,000 crore from here, so there is this large trench of money going out of Odisha. The Centre has to start giving back to Odisha now. It has to be more generous than it has been in the past. Also it has to put aside the disappointment of not doing well in Odisha. The elections are over in the entire state and now we should start concentrating to rebuild Odisha which has gone 20 years back. The Prime Minister talked about cooperative federalism. I think we are all for it but he must practice what he preaches.

The State Government has been demanding a special category status for Odisha since long. Now that the BJP led NDA is all set to form government at the Centre again, what efforts would the state put in for this status? 

We will put in all our efforts. If there is any state that deserves a special category status, it is Odisha because we are in the path of the worst kind of natural disasters. The Centre must ensure an additional qualification for special category status wherein states which are prone to natural disasters can be included. No state in India is prone to natural disasters the way we are. We have been hit by three major cyclones in five years and it’s not a joke. The authorities must recognise the fact and give us the status. It could be for a limited period but it should happen.

What are your plans to rebuild Puri?
The road to rebuilding Puri is in two parts, one is short term and another is long term. In the long term, the entire Puri district will have to be re-electrified as it has gone to the dark ages. About 2.5 lakh electric poles have fallen. To put back the physical infrastructures in place, it will take a humongous effort. People have lost homes which is an irreparable loss, fisherman have lost their boats, shops and establishments have been completely wiped out. So the first task is to give them back their homes and livelihood. It is going to be a long effort to come back to normalcy. We just need to hold each other’s hand and do it.  

Rath Yatra is a few weeks away. What are the immediate plans to bring normalcy in Puri?
Rath Yatra has its own dynamics. Nothing ever gets in the way of Rath Yatra, it will be celebrated with its usual pomp and splendour this year as well. But yes, we are trying for the speedy recovery of the hotel industry so that pilgrims who come from outside do not face much difficulty. However, I think there will be a slight decline in the footfall of tourists and pilgirms this time as people might be apprehensive about coming to Puri.  
 

You have keen interest in art and you are known to be a great art collector. Do you have any plans to help the artisans of Odisha who too have been badly hit by Fani? 
Artists from Odisha particularly from Puri constituency are known for their works all across the globe. Fani has inflicted a lot of damage on the art and craft sector of Puri district. We have to look into this area as well and come up with plans to quickly to put them back on their feet. Raghurajpur is renowned in the world and artisans there are doing great work and their products are well commercialised. Whatever help is needed from time to time, I have been providing them.