‘Leaders lost access to Naveen Patnaik’: Bhartruhari Mahtab on why he quit BJD
In an interview with HT, Mahtab, 67, six-time Lok Sabha MP Bhartruhari Mahtab, speaks about his decision to snap ties with the Biju Janata Dal led by Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik
Six days after he quit the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), six-time Lok Sabha MP Bhartruhari Mahtab joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on March 28, saying that it relieved the unbearable pain that he had been living with. In an interview with HT, Mahtab, 67, who has been winning the Cuttack Lok Sabha seat in Odisha since 1998, spoke about his decision to snap ties with the BJD. Edited excerpts:
What were the main reasons for leaving the BJD?
The BJD has transformed while transforming the state. It’s not the same BJD that we had formed in 1997. The party was formed against the Congress misrule, personal aggrandisement, corruption and misdemeanour in public life that happened between 1995 and 1999. The BJD was opposing it. But look what happened in the last 4-5 years? Those people involved in corruption and all types of nefarious activities, and against whom rape allegations are there, have been repeated as candidates.
When the party was formed, it was decided that it would be a collective leadership. We had a Political Affairs Committee (PAC). Even after 2004, Naveen Babu (chief minister Naveen Patnaik) was consulting various leaders before taking a decision. But once he took a decision, it was adhered to. Where is the PAC now? Now diktats are being given and supposed to be carried out. A political party functions with cohesiveness. It is not a place where decisions are to be blindly carried out. Every political person has an opinion. But if that opinion, even if it is expressed within the party, is ignored and derided upon publicly, why should one be in that party?
I had two ways before me. One, act as if whatever was happening in front of me was alright and stay mute. It was the easy way. The second way was to correct it. I tried hard for that and failed. It was then I decided to leave the party.
You said that things went wrong during the last few years. What were the issues, and did you point those out to the chief minister?
I have raised a number of issues in the editorials of my newspaper (Prajatantra) and various speeches. Before the 2019 elections, I used to communicate with him. But after the 2019 elections, I met him in Parliament and sometimes, I discussed with him over the telephone. But once Covid broke out, communication was restricted. I did meet him last month to give an invitation to my daughter’s wedding. But that was hardly for a minute.
After 2019, I would say hardly anyone in the party met him. It was not only me (but several party leaders lost access to Naveen Patnaik). Everybody including many senior leaders says this.
You said you lost patience with him (Naveen Patnaik)…?
There were several issues on which I differed from him. But I took it in my stride, thinking that was the decision of the leader of the party. After 2019, many things went from bad to worse. In December 2021, when I urged the Centre to bring Uniform Civil Code (UCC), one of the office-bearers of the party came out with a statement that it was my personal opinion and not the decision of the party. I pointed out that it is the Constitution’s Directive Principles of State Policy and asked if the BJD had decided not to support UCC. I asked them why they are deriding a statement and calling it a personal opinion. The BJD was never against UCC.
There is a perception that you moved closer to the BJP over the last few years. Your reaction?
May be, because of my speeches supporting triple talaq bill and scrapping of Article 370. Just because it is in the BJP’s manifesto, does it mean we oppose it? Is this how a country runs? There may also be perception over the Sansad Ratna awards and the Outstanding Parliamentarian award. The Sansad Ratna is given by an organisation from Chennai while the Outstanding Parliamentarian award is given by an association of Parliamentarians headed by the Lok Sabha speaker.
The day I received my award for Outstanding Parliamentarian on August 1, 2018 in the Central Hall of Parliament, everyone thought I would be full of praise for PM Modi in my acceptance speech. But I praised the BJD and chief minister Naveen Patnaik. But everyone forgot about it.
BJD leaders have said your winning margin in the Cuttack Lok Sabha seat has been declining over the last three elections and that there was a decision to not give you a ticket. They allege that you quit the BJD due to this reason.
(Laughs) Did they check the winning margin? Between 2009 and 2014, the winning margin went up. Anyway, they have got a good candidate now. Let’s see.
