Supporters of the DMK, AIADMK and a few other parties in Tamil Nadu have expectedly latched on to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s comments which were apparently referring to V K Pandian, a former IAS officer hailing from Tamil Nadu, who is now with the Biju Janata Dal (BJD).
Addressing an election rally in Odisha’s Angul, PM Modi had said, “When keys of our own houses are not found, we pray to Lord Jagannath and seek his blessings to find the keys… But keys of the Ratna Bhandar have been missing for six years.
“All of Odisha wants to know about the findings of the inquiry committee report on the missing keys of the Ratna Bhandar, but the BJD has suppressed it. BJD’s silence is further deepening people’s doubt on the issue.”
In Cuttack, he said: “People say that the key of Shri Ratna Bhandar has gone to Tamil Nadu. Who sent it to Tamil Nadu?”
It is believed by many that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is considering Pandian as his political successor.
Interpreting Modi's comments as an ‘anti-Tamil’ statement, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin wrote in a on X - “After the elections in Tamil Nadu, PM Modi dismantled his role as a ‘Tamilian’. He has falsely accused Tamils like thieves stealing the property of Puri Jagannath temple in Odisha. Is it beautiful for a Prime Minister to abuse Tamils in the North with malice and incite enmity between states? The Hon’ble Prime Minister should stop behaving so lowly day by day, forgetting the dignity of his responsibility for the sake of votes!”
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president K Annamalai then quickly released a video and a social media post to counter Chief Minister Stalin.
“It is unfortunate that TN CM Thiru MK Stalin, who lives in a silo surrounded by cheerleaders keeping him distant from happenings inside TN & beyond, talks about matters without understanding the context of what was spoken by our Hon PM Thiru Narendra Modi during his campaign in Odisha. We wish Thiru CM MK Stalin be reminded that dividing people in the name of region, religion, language & caste has been his party’s domain expertise that we are determined to stay away from.”
Annamalai's post on X (screenshot)
Who Is V K Pandian?
Pandian, seen as the ageing Patnaik’s likely successor, took voluntary retirement in October last year and was soon appointed the chairman of the state government’s 5T (Transparency, Technology, Teamwork, Time and Transformation) initiative. He later joined the BJD.
While in service, he toured all over the state to review development works and was seen as Patnaik’s special representative. He was considered more powerful than the senior ministers and even the chief secretary of the state given his closeness to the chief minister in his capacity as private secretary.
He did his Bachelor’s degree in agriculture from Madurai, followed by a Masters from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in Delhi. Sujata, his wife, is a fellow IAS officer hailing from Odisha.
It is stated that he was inducted into the CMO based on his good work as a District Collector and then grew closer to Patnaik as he reportedly foiled the rebellion against him by senior party leader Pyari Mohan Mohapatra.
Should A Non-Odia Become The State's Chief Minister?
The BJP in Odisha has been highlighting Pandian’s Tamil background and asking if a bureaucrat from outside the state should become the chief minister of Odisha. The party is tapping into the against him among a section of the Odias.
This line of campaigning has been questioned by supporters of Dravidian parties and even by some on the centre-right. Their argument being that if at all Pandian is not a suitable candidate for the Odisha CM's post, the BJP ought to highlight that instead of bringing the name of his ancestral state into the equation.
At the same time, it is also unlikely that the people of Odisha or for that matter any other state would prefer a person like Pandian over someone who they see as their own.
C T R Nirmalkumar, an AIADMK leader, asked, "When a Tamil woman is the Vice President of the United States, When an Indian rules England, Why should a Tamilian not rule Odisha?"
C T R Nirmalkumar's post on X (screenshot)
K Selvaperunthagai, who was recently made the chief of the Tamil Nadu unit of the Congress party, expressed his support for the post made by Chief Minister Stalin. He later stated that his party members would protest at the BJP office if PM Modi did not apologise for his remarks.
K Selvaperunthagai's post on X (screenshot)
Will Dravidian Parties Accept A Non-Tamil Chief Minister?
The same question can also be asked to the two Dravidian parties whose members are speaking in support of Pandian and criticising Modi’s remarks.
Would they accept a bureaucrat from another state, if say one of their chief ministers intends to anoint him as his political successor?
Some of them might come up with a reference to Tamilians accepting M G Ramachandran (MGR), whose family is said to be originally from Kerala. But by no means could anyone contend that there was any form of resentment against him and on the contrary, he was seen like a ‘god’ by millions of Tamils.
In the case of Pandian, if reports from the ground in Odisha are to be believed, there is considerable displeasure.
Odisha is voting for both the parliamentary seats as well as a new state assembly. The results on 4 June will tell us whether Pandian's official entry into the state's politics has been successful or not.
Also Read: Resentment against Pandian, and underlying grouse against ‘coastal people’, has framed the electoral battle in Sambalpur — ground report
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S Rajesh is Staff Writer at Swarajya.
