An opportunity wasted by naveen

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday skipped the fourth governing council meeting of Niti Aayog, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday skipped the fourth governing council meeting of Niti Aayog, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Predictably, the Opposition was quick to pounce on him and Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram even went to the extent of saying that Naveen’s action is against the letter and spirit of the Constitution.

First things first. Unlike a gram sabha or gram panchayat, which are at the grass roots level of India’s political and democratic setup, Niti Aayog is not a constitutional entity. It is a think tank at the apex level of the country and therefore, the BJD’s retort that the BJP is bent upon creating a perception of Naveen acting against the constitutional spirit is not entirely baseless. The key question, however, is why would the chief minister not attend a forum where he can voice the concerns of the state.

Naveen might have presented Odisha’s demands in writing but his presence would have sent a strong message about his concern for the state, his political and ideological differences with the NDA government notwithstanding. Even Mamata Banerjee, considered a strident opponent of PM Modi, attended the meet along with CMs like N Chandrababu Naidu and Pinarayi Vijayan—all of whom have an issue or two against the Centre.

India has adopted the UN agenda for achieving sustainable development goals by 2030 and Niti Aayog as a nodal agency has a mandate to work towards this. Therefore, all the states are required to join forces and bring in reforms. Issues such as poverty and nutrition are critical and Odisha cannot appear to be absent despite its reservations against certain programmes of the Centre.

By putting states on a continuous comparative analysis, Niti Aayog is seen as creating an embarrassment for states but it still is the platform where consensus on a subject of state interest can be arrived at, or dissent presented for brainstorming. For the state’s sake, Naveen must not waste such opportunities.

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