Odisha: Blending Hindutva and Regional Pride

The BJP successfully expanded its vote-share in Odisha by focusing on regional pride–a strategy successfully tested in Gujarat and elsewhere before. The broader promise of dignity within a Hindu nationalist framework was supplemented with a strong regional flavour under the banner of ‘Odia pride’. In doing so, the BJP clearly benefitted from a gross misjudgment on the side of Naveen Patnaik, who presented an able, but non-Odia bureaucrat as his likely successor. This enabled the BJP to move beyond a reliance on ‘Modi magic’ alone to also forcefully exploit historically deep-rooted anti-southerner sentiments, branding Tamils as outsiders and evoking tropes from the heyday of Odia nationalism. The party presented itself as the true guardian of Jagannath and constantly referred to the Lord who, as a multivalent symbol, embodies a regional identity, but is also deeply entrenched in the Hindu pantheon and has well-known Adivasi roots. Rather than foregrounding Lord Ram as is so often done in north Indian contexts, in Odisha, the party embraced Lord Jagannath and continues to do so post-elections. Given the diverse composition of Odishan society and the many different interests at work, the party also skillfully drafted strategies that addressed issues such as women’s empowerment and the symbolic recognition of Adivasi communities. And, post-election the BJP offered leading government positions to members of ST communities to further cultivate this constituency. This simultaneous and successful appeal to the pride of Hindus, Odias and Adivasis was of key importance to the strong performance of the BJP.