The Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal, which takes pride in its corruption-free governance, may not have started voluntarily publishing the donor list for the party yet. But that does not prevent Baijayanta Panda, the 50-year-old BJD candidate contesting in Kendrapara in Odisha, from indicating that he supports the voluntary disclosure of donations by political parties in his personal capacity. Panda was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2009 from Kendrapara after being elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2000 and 2006.
Panda, who has business interests in various sectors, says his party will play an important role in forming the Government at the Centre, and maintains that they would be equidistant from both the BJP and Congress. Excerpts:
Odisha has seen the sharpest reduction in poverty (over 24 per cent) between 2004-05 and 2011-12. This is reflected in the statistics of the State Government and the Central Government’s Planning Commission.
And though there may be differences over the levels of poverty, the fact remains that many people are better off now than their earlier levels. How the Odisha leadership effectively responded to cyclone Phailin has been acknowledged internationally.
We have given good governance and the State has seen development. There was almost double-digit growth in the last ten years, and there can be no denying that poor people have benefitted.
Does a weak Opposition make you complacent? BJD has taken a lot of opposition candidates into its fold, including the leader of Opposition in the Assembly…
That says a lot about where the BJD stands as a party. If more people want to join us, what can we do?
But several BJD candidates have also jumped the ship
There are a few candidates, particularly those that have not got tickets.
BJD has adopted a governance model in Odisha which involves distribution of subsidised food and other freebies. The middle-class feels this dis-incentivises beneficiaries from work and turns them lazy. Your comments.
Being a businessman myself, I agree that people should be engaged in productive activities. There is a saying that if you want to help somebody who is hungry, you should teach him how to fish instead of handing him a fish.
But when you have people who are facing death due to hunger, you don’t teach them how to fish at that moment, you first give them food so they can survive.
Till a few years ago, Odisha used to face a national shame every year, when there were reports of deaths due to hunger. You don’t find that happening any longer.
What economic growth model would you support? One driven by freebies or one that leads to job creation?
Growth model has to be well balanced — we need not swing between extremes. It’s not that there has been no industrialisation at all. Many industries have set up shop and it is just a few big names that have not yet fructified.
Most villages are now connected with roads. Odisha is identified as one of the States where welfare schemes are administered well even by the Central Government. Also migration of labourers from Odisha has reduced.
But the middle-class also complain that they don’t find agricultural labourers as the economically weaker sections are used to free food…
That is incorrect. With farm mechanisation, agricultural productivity has grown in Odisha. Also, people are taking on other jobs.
There are newer parties such as the Aam Admi Party that publish details of donations received on their website. Should political parties voluntarily publish the donations they receive from various sources?
I have always supported electoral reforms…funding of political parties should be transparent. I agree that the Aam Admi Party has brought in some good practices in politics.
Can you give examples of some new standards that the party is trying to set in to clean up politics?
We have fielded fewer candidates with criminal background compared to other political parties.
How do you expect your party to perform in the elections?
I am neither a psephologist nor an astrologer. But we will better our performance in both Parliament and Assembly compared to last elections.
BJD complains about not getting enough funds from the Centre for Odisha. Despite being the ruling party in State for the last ten years and leaving the BJP-led NDA alliance in 2009, you are not aligned with the ruling party at the Centre. Of what use is such a stance for Odisha?
We cannot be entering into alliances with the Central Government only for money. But I can assure you that we will play an important role in Government formation (at the Centre) this time.