Serving people only path for political success: CM Majhi at Odisha Literary Festival
In a freewheeling chat with editorial director of The New Indian Express Prabhu Chawla at the Odisha Literary Festival, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi discussed politics, his development ideas, progress of industrialisation in Odisha and other issues. Excerpts:The BJP government is not just working to make Keonjhar an industrial hub. We are working assiduously to set up industries in every district of the state. We organised Utkarsh Odisha: Make-In-Odisha conclave earlier this year, which attracted investment proposals worth Rs 17 lakh crore. After the signing of MoUs, people started asking questions on grounding of projects. Our government has already successfully grounded in four projects worth Rs 2 lakh crore.PC: What is the one thing Naveen Patnaik overlooked as chief minister that you would like to accomplish?
CM: He had forgotten many things during his tenure as chief minister. There are skilled people in the state, but they do not have any employment opportunity. They are migrating to Surat, Coimbatore and other places for work. We are giving thrust on creating employment for our
PC: How did you overcome the fear of becoming a successful chief minister after taking over from Naveen Patnaik? Considering, the obvious comparisons with your predecessor.CM: One who resides in India is a Hindu, irrespective of the religion he belongs to. He is a Hindu and Indian. Our mission is nationalism and we have to do politics on this basis. You can call me a Hinduvadi, but I wanted to work for the BJP from the beginning. I was inspired by towering personalities like AB Vajpayee and other leaders who were working hard for the people and the society. I became an MLA for the first time in 2000 and realised that BJP has a big platform to serve the people. Whether in power or not, it is very satisfying to work in the BJP.
CM: I was not in government and I had not become a minister as my party had not won an election before 2024. But I have a long experience in politics. I got into polipolitics in 1992 when I was a student. Unlike others in my college who were busy in students’ union affairs, I was into proper politics. I was defeated when I contested election for the first time, like Bhima in Mahabharata. And like Bhima, I was also never defeated again. I became a sarpanch, then MLA and now I am the chief minister. However, whether one may be in power or not, serving people can take him or her a long way