Bhubaneswar: Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday called upon the youth to take a plunge into politics.
Conferring best legislators awards from 2009 to 2016 on 24 MLAs here, Naveen said: "I wish more young and good people should join politics. The young people with the mission to serve people can transform our society the way we want. They can be the real changers of our time."
Quoting Martin Luther King, Naveen said: "You cannot lead people, unless you love them. This should be the guiding principle and political philosophy for every political leader."
Naveen said: "If you love your people, you don't see the post you hold as a post; but as a means to serve the people. You don't see the power as power; but as a means to transform the lives of people."
He said: "All the negative associates of politics - power, wealth and position - dissolve into nothingness if you love people."
"In a democratic society, public representatives have maximum engagement with the people. Citizens vote for them with a hope and aspiration for solving the numerous problems facing the society. This public trust imposes enormous accountability on the part of the elected representatives," he said.
He also asked the MLAs to discharge their responsibilities of fulfilling the aspirations of the people and ventilate their grievances through taking part in the debate and enactment of laws.
"I thank the Speaker for taking the decision to hold this ceremony for conferring the Best Legislator Awards from 2009 to 2016. I congratulate all the awardees and hope the award would encourage the legislators to work with even more dedication for the healthy growth of our democracy."
Pandit Nilakantha Samman has been conferred on Bishnu Das for 2009, Arun Kumar Sahoo for 2010, Pravat Ranjan Biswal for 2011, Prafulla Majhi for 2012, Amar Prasad Satpathy for 2013, Pramila Mallick for 2014, Ranendra Pratap Swain for 2015 and Ramesh Chandra Chau Patnaik for 2016.
Utkal Gourab Madhusudan Samman has been awarded to Surendra Nath Naik (2009), Bimbadhar Kuanr (2010), Nityananda Pradhan (2011), Umesh Chandra Swain (2012), Bikram Keshari Barma (2013), Rajendra Dholakia (2014), Surendranath Pramanik (2015) and Chakradhar Paika (2016).
Utkalmani Gopabandhu Samman was conferred on Sanjay Das Burma (2009), Pritiranjan Ghadai (2010), Samir Ranjan Dash (2011), Prashant Kumar Muduli (2012), Bijay Kumar Mohanty (2013), Raseswari Panigrahi (2014), Dibya Shankar Mishra (2015) and Pradip Purohit (2016).
