India is fighting coronavirus for more than a year now, and Naveen Patnaik, the Chief Minister of Odisha, has emerged as the most sensible leader of the country in these testing times. The Odisha government has not only sailed the state well throughout the pandemic but has even extended help to other states too.
Amid the Oxygen crisis in the country, he extended help to Delhi – where the immaturity of the Chief Minister is getting exposed every day. Arvind Kejriwal – the CM of Delhi, who allegedly keeps blaming ‘outsiders’ for every health disaster in Delhi, thanked the Odisha CM. “Recd a call from Sh Naveen Patnaik Ji. He has assured complete support to Delhi in facilitating lifting of Delhi’s quota of oxygen from Odisha. He has put a special offer on the job. Thank u sooo much Sir. Delhi is indeed grateful,” tweeted Kejriwal.
Recd a call from Sh Naveen Patnaik ji. He has assured complete support to Delhi in facilitating lifting of Delhi’s quota of oxygen from Orissa. He has put a spl officer on the job.
Thank u sooo much Sir. Delhi is indeed grateful.
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) April 22, 2021
Meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Patnaik said that the state will extend all possible cooperation to other states. “It is a war-like situation and Odisha will extend all cooperation in the fight against COVID-19 at the national level including ramping up oxygen production to assist other states in this emergency situation,” Patnaik told PM Modi.
Not only amid the COVID-19 crisis, the Odisha CM even stepped in to help Hyderabad during the flash floods last year in October. The calmness and preparedness of Naveen Patnaik often help Odisha duck every problem even though the state faces natural disasters at regular intervals.
Patnaik’s party BJD has proved itself a sensible opposition at the national level and extends its support to issues of national interest such as ‘One Nation One Election’. Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik is the only Chief Minister, who despite his political differences, supported PM Modi’s initiative.
Naveen Patnaik and his party Biju Janta Dal can be seen as the most constructive and reasonable opposition. He supported the good initiatives taken by the BJP government for the greater good of the nation and kept his personal and political differences aside. His recent initiative to promote hockey in India is also a good example.
Naveen Patnaik’s qualities have enabled him to buck anti-incumbency for more than two decades. He is arguably the longest-serving democratically elected leader at the sub-national level in the world with an unbroken stint of more than 21 years. Patnaik became the Chief Minister of Odisha when he was slightly above 50 and did not even know Odia, the language native to the people of the state. But, he has sailed the state as well as chief ministership for more than two decades and remains highly popular among the people of the state.
Another distinct feature of Naveen Patnaik’s politics has been to maintain a healthy distance from Congress, which, for many years, was the primary opposition to his party in Odisha until being replaced by BJP.
Naveen Patnaik is known for doing issue-based politics and supports/opposes any bill in the parliament on its merit and not on political alliances or differences. Therefore, he supported BJP on important issues like ‘One nation, One election’ but also criticised the party for not passing the women reservation bill in the parliament.
Had other Chief Ministers like Arvind Kejriwal and Uddhav Thackeray – who head regional parties like Patnaik – been sensible and prepared the medical infrastructure instead of focusing on petty politics, the nation would not be faced with the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.