Bhubaneswar: One should not be surprised if the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) one day announces former top bureaucrat Bijay Patnaik as the chairperson of the party’s campaign committee for the ensuing 2024 general elections for Lok Sabha and State Assembly. Bijay, a former chief secretary and also once a close aide of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, a section of the party feels, will be a befitting candidate for the crucial post. Though new in politics and also in the party, Bijay has meanwhile proved to be a major instrument for Congress to target the 23 years old Biju Janata Dal (BJD) dispensation. Bijay is now-a-days more seen in the Congress state headquarters than the old and veteran party leaders.
Bijay, usually a soft spoken mandarin, in fact knows where to hit. For being very close to Naveen Patnaik, apparently knows the art of dealing with issues with coolness. Suave nature appears to be the USP of Bijay. He targets the system and not the individuals. It is often seen that Naveen never speaks directly against Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and for that matter Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi though he at times does not hesitate to speak against policies of both the Congress and BJP.
The former bureaucrat has also learnt the art of not speaking directly to anyone, but to target the core of the issues. In his half-a-dozen press conferences after joining Congress, Bijay has targeted the BJD government policies including the much talked 5T initiative. But, he has all along refrained from taking names behind controversies.
On the other hand, it is seen that the politicians do not hesitate to directly blame any officer or leader unlike Bijay’s style of functioning. Meanwhile, it is observed that Bijay is getting acceptance from different groups of leaders within the party. The elders, youths, students, women and others in the party have so far nothing to speak against Bijay as he maintains his position as a former bureaucrat. Bijay, though has direct blessings from the AICC, never exposes his clout within the party and gives required respect to OPCC President Sarat Pattnayak and others. He too never oversteps the ‘Laxman Rekha” and prefers to play safe within the party and outside.
During his recent visit to Ganjam district, Bijay spoke about the main issue of the district and highlighted the migration of people and skill of local people. He stressed on setting up a mega spinning mill in Ganjam and also advocated for making Aska sugar factory operational which would provide employment to hundreds of families in the migration prone district.
All along, Bijay, unlike politicians understands reality and lacunae in the administration. He knows it well that the Naveen Patnaik government is driven by officials and not politicians. Therefore, as a former chief secretary, he knows where the officials make mistakes and how to highlight them in a proper perspective.
There is no doubt that the BJD government since inception has lot of influence of the bureaucrats be it former or present. While former IAS officer Pyarimohan Mohapatra had overbearing influence on the government as well as the party till 2012. In Odisha, it is seen that bureaucrats make better strategists to win elections and the governing party has repeatedly received dividends. Bureaucratisation of politics has proved to be a better option for BJD and a party like Congress, which remained out of power for over two decades, would not mind to change its mode of operation if a Babu can change the fate of the party in Odisha.
The critics may call it the death of democracy, but it is Naveen Patnaik for the first time in the history of Odisha politics has made it. His 23 years regime has seen bureaucrats are having influence in political affairs as well as in the administration. Naveen made history by becoming the first to give a stable government, thanks to the support of Bureaucracy. He has been a chief minister for five times in a row and is set to make it half-a-dozen times.
Bijay Patnaik is not the first former bureaucrat to enter politics, Many others have done it in the past, Recently, Aparajita Sarangi resigned from Civil Service and joined BJP to become a MP. Prior to her many former bureaucrats and top cops have come to politics. Former DGP Prakash Mishra is in BJP and Arup Patnaik is in BJD. Amar Patnaik also joined BJD. Bijay Patnaik is also not the last bureaucrat to join politics. He is likely to be followed by some other big names when the 2024 elections come closer.
But, the fact that bureaucratization of politics is certainly a debatable matter now in Odisha politics. Is the trend is going to gain strength among other political parties? Time will tell.