Odisha’s neighbourhood is tense now. The ruling BJD enjoying popular mandate for last four consecutive terms claims to be fighting for the cause of the State and is prepared to face come what may.
Interestingly, Odisha’s fight against its neighbourly States like AP in south, Chhattisgarh in west and West Bengal in east have been based on river water sharing in first two cases, while Rasagola is the bone of contention in the last. None of the battles has been conclusive so far though Odisha’s success cannot be guaranteed in any of them.
While the fight against AP vis-à-vis the Polavarum dam project is long drawn out, Rasagola war has a roller-coaster ride and the recent fight against Chhattisgarh over Mahanadi looks directionless as Odisha has risen up rather late and politics has taken the centre stage, rather than robust ground works for putting its cause in the appropriate forums to take an edge.
BJD’s battle plan has been double-edged; it wants to monopolise a deep-felt attachment with the region by trying to prove that it is the only party that is fully committed to Odisha’s interest and is prepared to face any consequence not to compromise with it, while on the other, it raises the Central neglect issue (Rasagola, an exception) so that any party that is at the Centre is painted with an anti-Odisha brush. In either case, the party seeks to gain rich mileage from ‘vote’ point of view, though in terms of real success nothing can be predicted now.
Polavaram has been fought in several forums, including in the Supreme Court, by Odisha but the dam project appears going in favour of AP which has made all efforts to carry it out single-mindedly with least care for the concerns raised by Odisha. Nevertheless, the BJD Government has got a considerable degree of success in its pro-tribal stand by protesting the project for the difficulties to be faced by the tribal populace of Malkangiri by submergence due to the height of the dam. Besides, whether it is the UPA or the NPA in the Centre, the BJD has managed to achieve political brownie points by projecting them successfully as anti-Odisha.
In the Mahanadi water row, which has now become a very hot issue, the BJD has raised objection to the barrages of Chhattisgarh on the river. The protests are found across the State with the party holding rallies in front of the district Collector’s office. The party wants to take the issue to the grassroots and therefore, has tried to create noisy scenes. But in terms of winning the battle, the State Government is short of ground works. It has not yet made a complete and reliable study on the loss to Odisha due to the barrages in the Mahanadi upstream. Besides, while the Chhattisgarh Government has constructed the dams over last many years, the Odisha Government has risen late which has made its footing weak.
The Rasagola war with WB for geographical indication (GI) tag for the sweetmeat too is not going in the side of Odisha either. Both the States have been trying their best to collect documentary proofs to claim the origin of the spongy syrupy sweet ball but Odisha is yet to claim a final victory.