Among the thousands of tribal women who attended Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s rally at Silisuan in the Keonjhar Assembly segment on May 19 was Purnima Majhi, a native of Kankadajodi and a self-help group (SHG) member, who admitted she had little interest in the high-pitch electioneering.
What drew her to the meeting was the promise made by the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in its manifesto to give pension to women members of SHGs over the age of 60.
“I have been voting for the Sankha (the BJD’s election symbol) for the last several years and will continue to do so. All members of our group have also decided to vote for the BJD on May 25. We are happy with the government for its work on SHGs and now are also eligible to avail an interest-free loan up to Rs 3 lakh,” Majhi says.
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Miles away in Ganjam’s Subarnapur village in Chikiti Assembly segment, Minati Nayak says she voted for the BJD on May 13, due to the government’s Mission Shakti groups. The Mission Shakti scheme, launched a year after Patnaik came to power in 2001, empowers the SHGs by ensuring interest-free banks loans for economic and livelihood activities.
Know more | Behind BJP bid to target Pandian’s wife, plan to dent Patnaik’s SHG base, cut into BJD’s women vote bank
“Not just me, all the members of our group voted for the BJD. Mission Shakti has given us a chance to live with dignity apart from providing financial assistance. We are no longer confined to kitchens in our home and are self-reliant due to Naveen babu,” she says.
Odisha electorate (in crore)
In its sixth consecutive bid for power, if there is one big plank in the BJD’s favour, it is the SHGs, with 70 lakh women members, who have grown into a loyal vote base for the party over the past two decades. The woman support is evident as they outnumber men at BJD rallies and roadshows.
With polling in nearly half the Lok Sabha and Assembly seats of the state done, party insiders are confident that the support from rural women and SHG members will again help them sail through. “The BJP cannot perform well here unless they make a dent in the BJD’s woman voter base,” a BJD leader said.
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In a recent interview with The Indian Express, BJD leader and Naveen Patnaik’s aide V K Pandian also called women the party’s biggest support base, saying the CM has always stood by them. In a swipe at the BJP, which has also been showcasing its schemes for women, Pandian said no freebies “could break the bond” that the state’s women had with Patnaik.
Other women-centric initiatives
Besides Mission Shakti, the BJD government has brought in 50% reservation for women in Panchayati Raj institutions and urban local bodies, reserved 33% of its Lok Sabha seats for women, and ensuring healthcare assurance up to Rs 10 lakh for them under the Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (up to Rs 5 lakh for men).
Living up to its promise, the party fielded 35 women candidates in the 2024 Assembly polls, as compared to 19 five years ago.
Also read | BJD urges EC to provide protection to ASHA, anganwadi, Mission Shakti women workers
One of the BJP’s biggest counters is the SUBHADRA scheme, under which it promises to give every woman of the state a cash voucher of Rs 50,000 to be encashed over two years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been referring to the scheme in almost all his speeches in the state, with the party promising to implement it as soon as it is voted to power.
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The BJP has also been distributing a card and seeking details of women to enrol them in the scheme.
Apart from the SUBHADRA scheme, the BJP has announced that it will help create 25 lakh “lakhpati didis” by 2027 by developing an industrial cluster for every 500 SHGs in the state.
Turnout in Odisha Lok Sabha polls
In what was seen as another strike at the BJD woman plank, the BJP recently got Pandian’s wife Sujata Karthikeyan, who was heading the Mission Shakti Department, transferred via a complaint with the Election Commission (EC).
Despite the BJP’s push, women seem sceptical about supporting the party. “I heard Modi talking about the SUBHADRA scheme in his rally at Berhampur on May 6. It is a good scheme but there are also talks that the BJP will discontinue the Mission Shakti scheme if it comes to power,” says Pratima Behera, who belongs to the fishermen community and is a native of Gajapatinagar in the Chhatrapur Assembly segment.
