Odisha: Will a Faux-Pas Seal the Political Fate of BJP’s Candidate in Puri?

The Puri Lok Sabha constituency is one of the most prestigious seats in Odisha. This time, it (Puri) has come up to become more debatable for two reasons.  

One is the recent faux-pas by Sambit Patra, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Puri, who had said in his address that “Lord Jagannath is an ardent devotee of PM Modi”. This has sparked widespread outrage among people with the Biju Janata Dal jumping in to capitalise on the issue.

For Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Patra’s faux pas came on a platter with the BJP supremo taking an unforgiving stance toward the BJP candidate for “such an utterance” that is being seen as “an insult to the Lord of the Universe, Jagannath.” Patra must undergo a penance of fast to atone for his sin, the CM said.

Although Patra apologised for his offence, terming it as a ‘slip of tongue’ through his X handle, but it was late to douse the flame of anger among the people of Odisha. He apologised after about 12 hours, by which time the political ramifications of his utterance had spread statewide and beyond.

The aura of Lord Jagannath transcends countries and the BJP knows it well. Patra reportedly underwent a three-day penance and fasting to atone his sin.

The other mistake made by BJP was on the day of a road show by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Puri when he had raised the question of the “missing key” of the Lord’s main room where the ornaments are kept. He went to say that that the key has gone to Tamil Nadu, inviting criticism from many parts of the country, specifically the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M K Stalin, who minced no words to condemn such an utterance from the PM. The TN Chief Minister said that this was highly unacceptable because the people of Tamil Nadu are equally devoted to the Lord and this kind of statement created a schism between the people of TN and Odisha. The PM’s remark was also seen as a veiled reference to Patnaik’s confidante and BJD leader V K Pandian’s Tamil origins

This sums up the mood and the factors in play in the Puri Lok Sabha constituency, one of the most prestigious seats in the state. While the BJD is playing the temple transformation card to the hilt, the BJP has Modi and its combative national spokesperson, Patra, taking on the BJD.

In 2019, Patra had lost in Puri, which was his debut in electoral politics. He was defeated by BJD’s three-time Lok Sabha MP, Pinaki Mishra by a slender margin. Since then, he had been doggedly cultivating the Puri Lok Sabha constituency.

This time, Patra is facing Arup Patnaik of BJD, who is ex-police commissioner of Mumbai and belongs to Puri district.