In a sharp counter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘name Odisha districts’ dare, state chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday said that remembering the state only during elections won’t help the BJP.
In a video statement, the Odisha CM accused Modi of overlooking the Odia language and claimed the Centre has rejected his proposal on classical Odissi music recognition on two occasions.
“Honourable Prime Minister, how much do you remember about Odisha? Even though Odia is a classical language, you forgot about it. You have allotted Rs 1,000 crore to Sanskrit but zero to Odia”, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) chief said in the statement.
“I have sent proposals about classical Odissi music recognition and you have rejected them twice,” Patnaik said, adding “Odisha needs a Chief Minister who understands Odia language and culture.”
On Modi’s remarks that despite having rich natural resources, people of Odisha remained poor due to BJD and Congress governments, Patnaik said, “Odisha’s natural wealth is coal. You (Centre) take coal from Odisha. But you forgot to hike the royalty on coal in the last 10 years.”
Taking a dig at Modi over the promises he made during the 2014 and 2019 elections, Patnaik said, “People of Odisha remember your promise of reducing prices, 2 crore jobs, reduce LPG, petrol and diesel prices, provide mobile connectivity to all, reduce or waive GST.”
On Modi’s claim that the BJD government will expire on June 4 and a BJP CM will take oath as new Odisha CM on June 10, Naveen Patnaik said, “Nothing will happen on June 10, neither in another 10 years. The BJP can’t win the hearts of the people of Odisha.”