PICTURE SPEAK

N.P.: Well! Actually I think it is great opportunity, as Prabhu knows me for quite some time. Before I joined politics I was After my father passed away I contested the Parliament bye-election. Before that I had written few books done a few articles, mainly on culture and the environment.

P.C. It was not expected that you be in politics?

N.P.:Certainly I didn't.

P.C. :As you pointed that you have been an accidental politician..

N.P.: It happened and I am glad that it happened because that happens with anyone in any profession. They refused and succeeded in doing something. Well four people, all in your world. It gives self satisfaction, particularly now in a state which is known for its poverty. So it is great opportunity, whatever good one can do it gives one satisfaction that is not the point. All of us. We are given a job, we are given a salary so it is not just for our own satisfaction. We have to see that the job is done well and unless you have passion for something how can you do it?

P.C.: You are speaking correct political lines….I can understand that….For the good of the people, it is correct political statement.
You must do what people expect you to do. You have to give it back to people. But the question is all the virtues of a good politician- deceitful, dishonest all those are not your virtues. Are they?

N.P.: Well I will not call them virtues. I will call them vices.

P.C.: But politicians are normally that way.....

S.A. : Let's put it this way. You are not the archetypal politician.
Hey, hello, how brat, they are loud and blatant…..the image that people have of a politician. You are quite a loner.

N.P.: I don't know what is loner. You are very busy through morning till well beyond dusk till 9 p.m. with people all the time. That is part of life of any politician. He is surrounded by people and I think he should always be very alert and absorbing the thoughts because you learn something new every day. Especially when you are in the world of politics - so many aspects of life is displayed to you and so many people with their problems or aspirations.

P.C.: But Naveen what we understand from your kind of politics is that you are not the typical politician. You do not run the state like a politician. You run the state like a CEO. Since you have a party that depends on you rather you depend on your party. You dictate your own terms. Is it the best because you are the successful Chief Minister because you are the CEO? You do not compromise like the politicians do.

N.P.: I would not call myself the CEO….. and second of all, this party is ... my father was in politics for many decades and he worked very hard. So a lot of people I talk to, are very much part and parcel of his parivar. And indeed for me who is very new to politics, I just entered a decade ago. A person who has come to politics late. I entered late, I came at the age of Fifty so why should one compromise on basic peace and decent aspect of life and I think one should and there is not great need to it one can deflect it and people accept it

SA: But not compromising is also seen as you being ruthless. You laid out Mr Vijay Mahapatra and recently Damodar Rao and people see that when you act you act on completely ruthlessness.

NP: I don't think it is ruthless. I think it is quite common place.
When you talked of first person. Often in parties candidates are changed. New candidates are given tickets, that is what happened in the first case. In the second case, it is very routine to have shuffle. Old ministers go and fresh ministers come.

PC: But Naveen all political parties are supposed to be democratic part but a party which is controlled by one family or created by one family member, you inherited besides other things this political party as well from your father, we do not see any democratic structure of your party. It is not visible at all.

NP: No. It is very routine and very democratic indeed. You have got lot of prominent people, very intelligent people in the party and I'm sure you must have met some and it is as democratic as any other party. We live in a democracy and obviously all parties are democratic and I certainly find ours but certainly we have routine in that.

PC: Your father was in the national party as well. He was in the centre as well. He started basically as businessman and then joined a political party. Then suddenly he had lot of vision for the state. You are trying to finish the unfinished task, which he had done. What difference you find because your father started politics you were abroad at that time and then you came here. Do you find you have the same kind of connect which your father had?

NP: I must say I am very fortunate obviously because my success in politics has mostly to do with my father. Of course that goes without saying. The party we are in is named after him, the Biju Janta Dal and people of Orissa had immense respect and affection for him and that is why I am in this position. There is no question about that.

SA: But you have a carved an image for yourself also in the sense that you are incorruptible. But you do have to run a party; you do have to fight an election. Frequently we are told that politicians collect money because they have to run a party?

NP: I think it could be done in a proper rational way. That has a solution. I can certify that my state would not do so. And as you said, this is what you are perceived, your personality is perceived as, I don't think any person can be judged as what he is perceived by others as.

PC: Coming back to democratic style. You are seen as an inaccessible Chief Minister to the political workers. You do your work and meet lot of people yet you do not meet your leaders and you are inaccessible.
You have done it like a CEO and again I am coming back to the question you are like a CEO. O.K. You have inherited a state, you have managed, you are bound for growth and you do not look into National politics because it is a family politics rather than Naveen Patnaik First and Naveen Patnaik Second and Naveen Patnaik Third and Naveen Patnaik Fourth, there is nobody else.

NP: Prabhu, I do not think that is the case. When I am in Bhubaneshwar, every morning the masses of people who come are virtually all political people. Bureaucrats don't come to the house, people of other profession do not come to the house and certainly politicians pour in all the time and my office has no formality as far as these people are concerned. People are popping up the whole time and I am sure that is true of most politicians.

SA: Prabhu, that is essentially the branding issue. We will come back to that after the break. We will also discuss how Orissa is emerging as the El Dorado for investors, right after the break. Do stay with us.

Segment 2

SA: Welcome back to the India Today Interview. We are talking to the Orissa Chief Minister, Mr Naveen Patnaik. Mr Patnaik, your father tried to, in his own way, make Orissa the global steel capital, moved investments. You are following that path. You are expecting investments to the tune of almost 4 lakh crore in your state. Why do you think you will succeed whereas your father couldn't?

NP: Well I have lots of plans to that. My father had a tremendous belief particularly as far as the industry is concerned. He had great passion as Prabhu mentioned before he came into really active politics he was an industrialist and a very successful industrialist. He had the vision, the experience and the knowledge. The timing now is right.
The world market as far as mineral based industry is concerned and you are well aware that Orissa is very rich in minerals and as you just said, a vast amount of investments, MoUs are signed, great enthusiasm has come about in putting up huge steel plants.

SA: What's behind the enthusiasm? Is it the rich resources in Orissa because you have been in power for over 7 years now and this gold rush has started may be in the last one-year or so. Is it the minerals or is it Naveen Patanaik's style of functioning or is it a new Orissa?

NP: Well as I just said. Orissa has very rich mineral resources. We have brought out a new policy of value addition. In fact Orissa, our government are pioneers in value addition which means that people want to use the minerals. It is not just taking them out of mines and taking them away. Now, our policy is to set up plants and out of those plants we will come out with much required revenue for the welfare schemes and development programmes in the state. And also, equally important, jobs for the young people both directly and indirectly.

PC: But Naveen, you have been in power for more than six years in the state. People were talking of resurgent west Bengal nobody talked about Orissa as resurgent state. Then something dropped in the state, DNA or something?

NP: In fact minerals is the great asset of the state. Also power the epitome, then coal reserves. Think of other things, like IT- all the big players have come to the state

PC: They have come on paper or really they have come?

NP: Infosys is there, Satyam has been there, TCS is coming, MindTree is coming- all the big players are coming in the IT sector and this is very encouraging. Also in the health sector, in the education sector very large investments have been made and besides these sectors I am repeating in the power sector. As far as tourism is concerned, which is a sector of fast employment and Orissa is very rich in. 500 kilometers of coastline. It has wonderful wildlife sanctuary. It has great monuments. It has great performing arts. So, tourism is going to boom. Near our airport, which I'm sure will become an international airport shortly you have golden triangle, which has superb infrastructure to the world heritage site of Konark. From there, along the marine drive to Puri. It is all done now. And we also have Jagannath temple. And on from there, we have the greatest ecological wonders, which is Chilka Lake, the largest brackish water made in Asia. Dolphins

PC: Everything is there but there is no infrastructure.

NP: No, the roads are ready and they are superb and then there are other roads to the monuments. There will be easy drive from the airport of Bhubaneshwar. You should really come to see it one day.

SA: Mr Patnaik, all these are but I will have to repeat Prabhu's question. Orissa is OK but still it is BIMARU state, there is conflict of what is happening on ground and I come back to the issue of branding. Why is it still been seen very much as BIMARU state?

NP: Let me explain. A quarter of our population, One fourth of the population is tribal. Of course we have started taking care but they are very poor. We have started a lot of anti poverty programmes and there is tremendous enthusiasm. At the moment, for instance, we have started something called "Mission Shakti" which is the women self help group and now more than 2 million women involved in the women self help groups and this is scattered all over the state. As far as alluviation is concerned the 'Paani Panchayats' have been made to harness water resources through water associations and then you have watershed mission. Which is for the drought affected areas, which are very poor areas. So there are number of things. Then I come to infant mortality. We have Mortality Prevention Mission. I'm very bad at statistics but it has improved tremendously. You have put our state as the worst but states like Madhya Pradesh, we are much better and getting better.

SA: We will come back and talk of Orissa in a mission mode under Naveen Patnaik. Do stay with us.

Segment 3

SA: Welcome back to the India Today Interview. We are talking to the Orissa Chief Minister, Mr Naveen Patnaik.

PC: You were talking about mission, what is your mission by the way?
Don't talk like a politician- my mission is to improve poverty; my mission is to get back whatever, tell me specific mission?

NP: See, when Rashtrapatiji was in Orissa recently, Dr Abdul Kalam and what he talked was very important, the assets of the country or the
state- the human resources. The most important thing is that your people develop and grow education. That is the important aspect. So that your assets, I was talking about tourism a little while ago and Orissa is a very beautiful state. Then I was talking about minerals, we were talking about power, we were talking about IT, education, health. If your human resources grow that is the most ambitious thing we should think of. What is the greatest asset, it is the mind which is the greatest asset. So when your people develop and take advantage of the other aspect...

SA: So where ?

NP: There is perfect harmony and we are lucky in Orissa to have a very courteous and respect for education, a very lyrical people so all those assets I have hope will be amalgamated and sure we will. I think this century is the beginning of good luck.

PV: Naveen, I think your personality is in conflict. Your father was an industrialist, you come from a very good background studying in management studies and you are inviting lot of investments but somehow you also oppose disinvestments?

NP: What are you talking about?

PC: I'm talking about NALCO for example.

NP: Well, let me explain that. When they wanted to sell NALCO, to disinvest in NALCO and use it for expansion you had the Union mines minister Mr Ola saying it would be used for expansion of NALCO. You had Union Finance Minister Mr Chidambaram saying it would be used for sick units for other places.

PC: You opposed in earlier regime as well

NP: Let me be quite clear about that. NALCO is making such extraordinary profit at this moment that they can certainly use it, if you look at it very rationally in financial sense, they can use it for expansion and at the NDA time I was opposing it because NDA was talking about privatization. And again for the same reason, why do you want to sell your family silver when you are doing very well.

SA: But wooing investments into Orissa and they are all rushing in for rich resources is also in some sense selling the family silver isn't it?

NP: That is not selling the family silver. You are using those assets, after all NALCO has also got its mines and bauxite mines to make aluminium, you are using the minerals which are underground which are desperately required for the revenue for the people of the state. It is required for the jobs for the people of the state, how and should it be used. When you are talking about Rourkela, which is the only great steel plant that Orissa has. That is also built in a big forest area, big tribal area in Sundergarh district but we have starvation around Rourkela because someone has some occupation or the other.

SA: How are you sure that Mittal, for instance, will not do a Munda on you?

NP: Beacuse I am very clear and I told you about the policy of value addition. If you have to have a plant that is in our policy, they have to put up the plant and use the minerals of the state.

PC: They will not be allowed to export?

NP: Certainly they will be allowed to do various things but the plant will come up for the jobs and the revenue.

PC: You are sure that Mr Mittal will finally come to your state?

NP: I'm certainly hoping he will. Very recently they have taken eight weeks, they have been shown 4 sites to set up plants and they asked me very prudently it has come from steel ministry, we have to make a choice and assess on that.

PC: You will also acquire land and give it them at throwaway price or what?

NP: It will not be given at throw away price. Let me tell you that in Orissa many say, we have brought out excellent R & R policy, the rehabilitation policy and many people consider that as very progressive and the best in the country.

SA: Did it come up after the Kalinga Nagar problem?

NP: We had a good policy but after the terrible tragedy at Kalinga Nagar we have brought out a new R & R policy and many consider that as an excellent policy.

PC: You have a political stable state. We know you are there and the party....

NP: We have good law and order.

SA: No opposition and comatose ally?

NP: You have an opposition and you know opposition is the most healthy aspect, certainly we have opposition.

PC: You have BJP as opposition?

NP: BJP is our alliance partner for virtually a decade now.

SA: He didn't even blink Prabhu?

PC: You do not have problems with BJP?

NP: No, we have a very healthy alliance

PC: You agree with them, whatever they are doing now, latest policies and talking about Vande Mataram and what not?

NP: Let me explain you one thing. As far as Orissa is concerned the alliance is very good. We haven't had communal tension as such ever since I've been the Chief Minister for the last 6 years.

PC: The credit goes to BJP or you?

NP: The credit goes to many people. The credit goes to the government, the politicians, to the administration, goes to the official

SA: But are you on the same....

NP: Most of all it goes to the people of the state. They always had very secular culture.

PC: You do not problems with the BJP, either at the natioanl level or the state level?

SA: You are on the same page as BJP's programmes are?

NP: You must be knowing that NDA partners always gone by the common agenda which is progressive and secular document.

PC: Tell me one thing. When you were not in politics, when you were in a different circle. You were with Rajiv and all those people in Delhi and then suddenly you go back to Orissa and what people you confront there. The issue was different, there were Congress type of people or what you say Congress culture

NP: We really are very lucky to meet lot of brilliant people and very gifted and so many people of Orissa have arts on their fingertips. You have many prolific writer of the arts.

SA: You don't miss writing, select on the celeb circle, the impromptu dinners at home?

NP: Listen, I am just happy to be there. I have my heart at work and I am of an age now.

SA: But doesn't all work and no play make Naveen a boring man?

NP: I can' t be the judge.

NP: Naveen, what are the few mistakes that you have committed after being elected for the second term? Did you make any mistake or not?

NP: I'm sure one does millions of good things and makes many mistakes and we all learn from our mistakes.

PC: So you don't remember any mistakes?

NP: I'll send you a sheet of paper

SA: On that light note we will end

PC: I'll wait for your sheet

Thank you

Thank you for joining us on India Today Interview. Thank You

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