Odisha: PM to Join as Majhi Celebrates Govt Anniversary Amid ‘Several Failures’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to be in Bhubaneswar on June 20 late afternoon as a participant in the ongoing celebration by the Mohan Charan Majhi-led ‘double engine’ Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Odisha.

Majhi completed one year of rule on June 12 2025. On the other hand, Modi completed his first year as Prime Minister for the third time at the same time.

The celebrations of one year in power by Majhi has been organised in the sullen backdrop of several failures, though it is a different matter that the Chief Minister has started drum-beating about his “achievements”, raising eyebrows among political observers.

“There is no such silver lining left by Mohan Majhi in the last one year because the ground realities reveal a number of failures. Mainly, the law and order in the last one year has taken a nosedive when one looks at atrocities against women, often touching the national rankings of 7%,” Kameswar Rao, a senior journalist, told this writer.

He pointed out that inflation, unemployment and many other poll promises made by BJP remained unfulfilled. “Perhaps, the ongoing celebrations are like the topping on a cake only to keep people engaged with the optics”, he added.

The irony is that the Majhi government started its celebrations, almost from June 6, 2025, amid cries of women from several parts of the state. In the middle of the much-hyped events, hardly anyone noticed three consecutive rapes in Gopalpur sea beach in Ganjam district on June 16, or the hanging body of a minor tribal girl from a tree in Keonjhar district, a case of gang-rape and murder on June 17or the gang-rape and murder of a married woman in Baripada in Mayurbhanj district on June 18.

Another shocking crime has been reported from the state. A 17-year-old girl was found hanging after she was allegedly sexually assaulted and killed in Keonjhar district, the home ground of Majhi. 

Yet the celebrations went on and Majhi was engaged in a chest-thumping on the issue of curbing crime against women in the state.

Sadly, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, the Majhi dispensation carries on with the tainted legacy of seven rapes in a day in the state from 2022.

“Even on the corruption front, the present government could do little on the much-talked about Ponzi and mining scams. People who had invested in the Ponzi scam, which has been haunting them for years, have not been able to get any justice”, said Rabi Das, a political analyst who has taken the Ponzi issue to the apex court.

June 12

June 12 may be a day when all the good and bad things happened in the state. Yet, there was hardly any sign of remorse from the political fraternity here. The Odisha government did not think it prudent to hold back the anniversary celebrations even for a day as a gesture of homage for the people who died in the plane crash in Ahmedabad, noted some political watchers.

“It is to be seen how the Prime Minister, who has taken a lot of battering in the recent times after the Pahalgam tragedy, Operation Sindoor and then the plane crash, plays his political cards in Odisha”, Das added.

The writer is a freelancer based in Odisha with over 40 years’ experience in the profession.