• You have emerged as one of the most visible faces of the state BJP. You're also in the forefront in attacking the government on various issues. Is it all your initiatives or the party projecting you?
In the past 17 years of governance, the BJD has ruined the state. As a responsible citizen, it's my responsibility to raise issues affecting the common man. We have to expose the government and how it is befooling the people on various issues. It is getting money under various central schemes and called it as its own scheme. On many occasions, the initiatives are mine and I have taken up issues. Sometimes, the party also asks me to take part on various subjects concerning the state. However, whatever issue I raise, it has the support and blessings of the party.
• On the Mahanadi issue, despite your attacks on the state government, you as well as your leaders in the BJP appeared to be soft on the central and the Chhattisgarh government. You are not ready to put the blame on them? Is it because of political compulsion?
The BJD is trying to float this theory only to gain political mileage. We have made it clear that we demand that Chhattisgarh should scrap its project. Believe me, had it been in the hands of the Prime Minister, he would have stopped Chhattisgarh from executing the projects. I would have been the first person to prevail upon the Prime Minister to do it. But, ours is a federal structure, and we have to abide by the principles of federalism.
• The BJP must be on the back foot on this issue...
What had the BJD been doing over the years? This issue came to the limelight in 2001. Even the chief minister had written letters to the then water resources minister, Arjun Sethi (a BJD leader). The issue was discussed time and again in the Assembly. In March this year, the issue was raised in the Assembly again. Now, the BJD is raising the issue keeping the panchayat polls in mind. The people have started asking questions why the BJD has been remain silent over it for so long. In fact, they have raised the issue to divert the attention of people from the deaths of 19 children at Nagada for malnutrition and the killing of five tribal people by security forces at Phulbani. The kalasha yatra (carrying Mahanadi water) organised by the BJD had failed to get the response from people. The yatras have been restricted to their party workers.
• But your party seems to have been divided over the issue. While Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan had argued for a joint committee to resolve the issue between the two states, Bijoy Mohapatra rejected it. He wants the setting up of a river board...
Bijoy Mohapatra is a senior leader of the party. He had been the water resources minister of the state and had prior knowledge about it. The intentions of both the leaders are good. They want that injustice should not be meted out to Odisha's cause even though their opinions differed. But, the rank and file of the party is of the view that they would fight to protect the interests of the state.
• The BJP's influence seems to be confined only to west Odisha. Your state chief belongs to west Odisha and your legislative party leader, too, hails from the same region. Don't you think that this might affect the party's pan Odisha image?
It is true that we are not able to rise in the coastal belt and south Odisha. This is because of organisational weakness. Earlier, those who were ministers and occupied various posts (in the BJD-BJP governments) were busy protecting their interests. They had no time for the workers. They did not introspect on how the party could grow. Now, we are paying the price for it.
• Don't you think that the party should discard these leaders and induct new faces?
They have not been given important assignments in the party structure. The party believes in utilising the services of every body. If someone goes on a wrong path, the party will try to bring a change in his mindset and later utilise him for the party's cause.
• The media have reported time and again and there is a growing public perception that Dharmendra Pradhan is being projected as the chief ministerial candidate for the 2019 election...
The BJP has the tradition of projecting its chief ministerial candidate just six months before the elections. Time has not come for that. It is the BJD, which has projected Dharmendra Pradhan as the BJP's chief ministerial candidate. I believe people will accept Dharmendra Pradhan as the alternative to Naveen Patnaik.
• Do you support Dharmendra Pradhan as the party's next chief ministerial candidate?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been heaping praises on Pradhan for his achievement in distributing LPG connections. Narendra Modi has publicly shown confidence in him. It's true that he has already been projected as the chief ministerial candidate. What's wrong in supporting him?
• But his detractors are of the view that Pradhan was unable to win an Assembly election, how could he be the chief ministerial candidate?
Even Biju babu had lost elections. The arithmetic of vote politics is different and undergoes constant changes.
• Do you think that the Gandhamardan movement (not giving bauxite ores to industrial houses) of which you were a leading light is still relevant? What is its future?
The Gandhamardan issue is very much attached to our emotions. In 1993, it was given to Balco. But people reacted to this move as it would have destroyed the ecological system and dried up a number of rivers. Lakhs of people depend on the Gandhamardan hills for their living. The then chief minister, J.B. Patnaik, had to cancel the agreement. Even during the Naveen Patnaik's regime, seven attempts have been made to hand over the hills to the industrial houses. But it has failed. We will not allow the government to hand it over to private firms.
• If the Union government, which is pro-industry, decides to auction the Gandhamardan hill, what will you do?
Our Prime Minister is a lover of nature and he has lots of love and affection for the tribal people. I hope the BJP will not take any such move, keeping the sentiments of lakhs of tribal people attached to it. Despite that if the Centre goes ahead with any proposal to hand it over to any industrial houses, I will be the first one to oppose. For me maati (land) is first, party comes second.
• As we saw in the last election, Modi wave failed to penetrate Odisha. What makes you think that the Modi magic will work in 2019?
There were two reasons why the Modi wave could not be translated into votes. We had no organisation to catch the wave. Besides, we failed to expose Naveen's misdeeds. People continued to believe that Naveen was a honest leader. But, the situation has changed. Now, people have seen a different version of Naveen. At the same time, we have already strengthened our organisational structure and enrolled more than 45 lakh people in the party.
• What is BJP's mission for 2019?
A party loses because of the negative vote. The people are fed up with the Naveen government. There is a growing resentment against him. In 2019, we expect anti-establishment factors would work against him. As the Congress has lost its existence in the state, we stand to gain from it. The people have already realised that it's the Centre, which is giving money for the state's cause and Naveen is taking its credit.
• You have been a social activist. Now, you are a public representative. What is the difference between the two?
There is a marginal difference between them. Both are working for the welfare of the people. Whereas a public representative has a greater responsibility and looks at overall development of the people, social activists do not play that role. People can question a public representative. They have high expectations from the people's representatives, but no such thing from social activists. While a social activist always gets all sorts of prasansa (appreciation) from the people, people's representatives hardly get any such gesture.
Activist-turned-MLA
• A first-time MLA from Padmapur, Purohit, 51, is a firebrand speaker
• He played a major role in forcing the state government not to hand over the bauxite-rich Gandhamardan hill to industrial houses
• A first-class matriculate, he did not pursue higher studies as he failed in the intermediate, joining popular movements instead
• Earlier, he had contested the Assembly polls twice - once as an Independent candidate in 2004 and then in 2009 as a BJP candidate, but lost
WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE BEEN HAD YOU NOT BEEN A POLITICIAN?
I had never really thought that I would be an MLA someday. I am an avid social activist and would have continued with my activism. Even during this election, I told my supporters that if I lose, I would not contest in polls again. But during my younger days, I had seriously thought of becoming a journalist who would highlight issues relating to the common people and the problems that they face on a regular basis
