Naveen plays long innings, BJP lets loose heavy hitters

IT began with the gods. During festivals, the idols are brought out of their alcoves and displayed in divine glory to devotees, their sacred bodies covered in gilt-edged garments sewn with gold thread, and smothered with jewels and gilded crowns.

- RAVI SHANKAR

This pomp symbolises ultimate power. Then came the overdressed monarch's turn, passing in stately splendour through lines of awestruck citizens. The modern monarchs, politicians, have a word for it: the roadshow. Elections are roadshow time. Modi loves them. Amit Shah loves them. So does Rahul, Stalin and Mamata. Not so sure about the reticent Naveen Patnaik, who has governed whole generation of Odias; a distant but benevolent person who is rarely seen or heard, but seems to have miraculously satisfied his subjects. But demanding times demand different timings.

The 5km Patnaik roadshow in Bhubaneswar was a festive affair that reflected the reclusive politician's inexplicable popularity; even children wore Naveen masks. And surprise! Pandian masks too! It is perhaps a vindication of his mystique Patnaik is known for pulling off the unexplainable that Pandian has become as pervasive in the voter's mind as hockey in a young Odia's consciousness.

Back to the roadshow. The pneumatics of politics begins when the automated lid atop the Rath — it was Andhra legend NT Rama Rao who first started the Rath trend in 1984 — begins to ascend through the hatch slowly. Naveen Patnaik’s smooth, unlined face spotlit with a golden glow slowly rises up with intergalactic grace. The crowd roars his name and Patnaik, now on the brink of his sixth term, waves back. At 77 years of age, there are no signs of serious ill-health, although a fragile evanescence backlights his form. “Are you well?” he inquires softly and the crowd answers in the affirmative, in one voice. “Do you like BJD?” The answer is the same. “Do you like me?” The answer again is the same, but louder.