Clad in crimson coloured pyjamas with a vermilion mark of lord Hanuman on his forehead, Basanta Kumar Panda minces no words calling a spade a spade. He speaks straight without allowing dollops of subjectivity. Panda came to embrace the BJP since 1994 and became a member of the BJP State executive committee. later on, he became a district secretary and president. He was also the party’s State general secretary and subsequently a vice-president. His rise in the BJP is meteoric as he shot into prominence during the Ram temple movement. Panda opened his innings to the State Assembly from Nuapada in 2000 and also got reelected in 2014. He ceded his legislature party leadership as he was unanimously elected as the party president succeeding the then incumbent KV Singh Deo in January 2016. The struggling BJP took off a steep trajectory landing a close second to its former ally BJD leaving behind the Congress in the just-concluded three-tier panchayat polls. An ecstatic Panda spoke to Sugyan Choudhury in an interview to The Pioneer.
What could be the reasons for the BJP’s convincing victory in the three-tier panchayat electionsIJ
The reason is simple. It is obviously owing to the two and a half years’ developmental agenda and activities by our popular Prime Minister Narendra Damodar Modiji. The team spirit in which the BJP leadership from the grassroots level to the Prime Minister’s level worked in unison convinced the Odisha electorate to repose their confidence in the BJP. Besides, the BJD’s seventeen years of misrule, corruption, nepotism and highhandedness have suffocated people so much that they have to pin their faith in the effective leadership of Modiji.
Will this tempo be sustained and is there any hope that the BJP will emerge victorious in the 2019 general electionsIJ
You must by now realise that people of our State are moving towards a great change. You cannot simply deny this. Besides, the BJP will get itself collected to remove the inertia, withdrawal, passivity and acceptance of any kind and by setting our house in order to emerge victorious in 2019. We shall also leave no stone unturned for effective implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Sadak Yojana, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, empowerment of mothers and sisters through SHG groups, providing concrete houses to slum dwellers, crop insurance schemes, the Annapurna Antodaya Yojana, school building schemes, railway expansion plans, PM’s Ujjwala Yojana, lPG gas connection scheme, Pradhan Mantri Jeevanjyoti Veema Yojana, PM Suraksha Yojana, Atal Pension Yojana, Sukanya Samrudhi Yojana’ and a host of such other programmes. We shall also strive hard to open the Talcher fertiliser plant and for establishment of methane oil with an investment of Rs 1100 crore in Bargarh in western Odisha and such other plans for which the PM thinks to make Odisha more progressive and prosperous. We shall make a drive to meet people at the booth level at their doorsteps carrying the message of PM to make Odisha prosperous. In this way, we are confident that the BJP will come out victorious in the 2019 general elections.
Political observers say the BJP has bagged the votes of disenchanted Congress supporters. The BJP’s organisational still remains weak. What’s your responseIJ
You must know that the BJP believes in its own organisational strength and in its positive approach for strengthening the party. We have gone to people’s doors convincing them how the Central Government is helping the poor people of Odisha in the Rs 2-per-kg rice programme, on waiver of 8% interest to farmer loans and how the Centre has enhanced the allocation of its budgets for development of Odisha. Further, people of our State have categorically witnessed the nearly fifty years of Congress rule in the country leading Odisha nowhere. Besides the Congress’ failures, we explain to people about the dull, insipid, stagnant and lifeless seventeen years of the BJD rule. The wise electorate, which waited for an opportunity, did cast its mandate in the BJP’s favour. The BJD has got over 160 less than its tally in 2012. When one party stands vanquished, the other has been rejected by the people.
Do you believe that your party would be free from various conflicting power groups by 2019IJ
There are no power groups in the BJP. We all work under complete democratisation of our plans, policies and programmes. Once a decision is arrived at, we vow to translate it into a reality. Our party’s rank and file is bound in an invisible thread of unity beginning from a village-level worker to the PM. We want to see not only a vibrant India but also an awakened Odisha. That is why people of the State have begun to appreciate and bless us.
As reported, how far is it justified on the Prime Minister’s part to give Odisha the tag of a “poverty-stricken State with beggary” in an UP election meetingIJ
The intention of the Prime Minister has been blown out of context. The PM is always concerned for development of Odisha in particular and development of eastern India in general. The PM is of the opinion that western India is developed while eastern India stands at low ebb in the development scenario of the country. Hence to bridge the regional economical imbalances, eastern India should be at par with its western counterpart. In this context, the reports of the Rangararajan Committee, Tendulkar Committee, UNDP, Saxsena Committee and out of all the available statistics, Odisha is referred to as a backward State. Can the BJD leaders deny this real position of Odisha in the national scenarioIJ The PM with a large heart conveyed that he is committed to development of Odisha as a poor State to see it occupies a front position in the national scenario. Exhorting this, he appealed to the UP electorate to swim in the path of progress by casting their votes in the Odisha voters’ model. The Opposition is trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill by distorting the truth. The intention of the PM can be gauged from the allocation of budgets in the railway sector, in the IOCl sector, in the National Highway front, in the Sagarmala project, in four lane propositions and the like.
Do you agree to the Opposition view that Modi’s demonetisation has brought the Indian economy to stagnationIJ
The people from Kanykumari to Kashmir and from Gujarat to Puri have welcomed demonetisation as a timely measure to curb black money, terrorism and fake currency. Only the some opposition parties and vested interest groups see a ghost everywhere behind such an honest attempt to take the country forward.
How do you foresee the results of the ongoing elections in five StatesIJ
The BJP is hopeful to have a massive mandate in all these five States, Uttarakhand, Manipur, UP, Punjab and Goa.
How come in your home district Nuapada, the BJP could not open its accounts in the panchayat pollsIJ
It is true. After I have taken the responsibility of president of the party, I worked at other places making whirlwind tours, neglecting my own. In coming days, the BJP shall undoubtedly come to power in my district. Maybe as a batsman, I have been made out with a zero, but I rest assure you this shall not always happen.
The Government observed Bijubabu’s 101st year birthday. What is your response to thisIJ
Bijubabu is a statesman, not a mere politician to be contained in the BJD bandwagon. Bijubabu is the pride of Odisha, and our best wishes to the Government for observing this celebration. But at the same time, we wish that there should not be any politicisation of this event. The party will be doing more harm than good to the image of Bijubabu if they try to seal him up in their camp only.