An unexpected political campaign is playing out in the state capital as Odisha faces simultaneous elections for its Parliamentary and Assembly seats. Though Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha constituency has the most urban, diverse, and educated demographic in the state, caste has emerged as the centrepiece around which a high stakes electoral battle is being waged between the BJD and BJP.
Caste politics has been deployed in favour of the BJD Lok Sabha candidate for Bhubaneswar, Manmath Routray. A pilot for long years, he quit his job to contest the election against former IAS officer and incumbent BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi.
The BJD is running its campaign for candidate Manmath largely around its own track record of development in Bhubaneswar. The party points to projects such as slum rehabilitation, urban transport, sports infrastructure, renovation of cultural and religious sites, and improved healthcare services while questioning Sarangi’s contribution towards her own constituency since 2019.
However, the regional party has quietly accommodated a parallel campaign in the constituency. It is being run by Manmath’s father and veteran Congressman Suresh Routray, a six-term MLA from the Congress Party. The BJD has strategically co-opted Manmath’s father to attract Congress votes. Suresh was also elected MLA in 2019 from Jatni, which falls within Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha constituency. He is one of the few Opposition politicians enjoying enormous name recognition across Odisha.
Suresh’s pitch for Manmath is not just that he is Odia by birth, but also a Khandayat pua (son). This caste narrative strikes a contrast with Sarangi, who was born in a Bihari Brahmin family and has married an Odia of the same caste.
Khandayats were a land-owning peasant-militia caste in Odisha. In Odisha, Khandayats are hailed for their role in the Paika Bidroha, considered to be the first major armed rebellion against the East India Company in 1817. Buxi Jagabandhu Bidyadhar, a Khandayat commander of the King of Khordha, is revered by Odias as the leader of the rebellion.
The BJP is acutely aware of the potency of the Paika narrative in Odisha and its significance for the dominant Khandayats. Arun Jaitley, as Finance Minister, had paid tribute to the historical event in his 2017 Budget Speech in Parliament. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had felicitated descendants of the Paika rebels. Not to be outdone, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had written to the Centre to declare Paika Bidroha as India’s First war of Independence. In 2022, the cabinet of the Odisha government had approved sanction of roughly 10 acres for the construction of a Paika Memorial near Bhubaneswar city.
In 2024, the caste campaign unfolding in Bhubaneswar is politically significant on two counts. Firstly, Khandayat valour in the past is being simultaneously woven with contemporary Odia masculinity. Secondly, the Khandayat pua campaign is also not being run by an oppressed caste fighting for social justice and legal rights. It is instead the assertion of caste pride by a member of a locally dominant caste. From writers such as Fakir Mohan Senapati to Sachi Routray, Chief Ministers Harekrushna Mahtab and Nilamani Routray, Khandayats have occupied high positions in Odia society and politics.
However, despite significant OBC and Dalit populations, Odisha has remained largely unaffected by caste movements that have impacted Indian politics. In a by-election in Kendrapara Assembly constituency in 1954, Congress candidate Purusottam Nayak faced Jadumani Mangaraj of the People’s Independent Party, who had built his election campaign around Khandayat caste pride. After a pitched electoral battle, which also involved Khandayat politicians from Congress and Chief Minister Nabakrushna Choudhury, the Congress candidate emerged victorious.
With an increasingly cosmopolitan character over the last decade, Bhubaneswar seems an unlikely site for this caste experiment. But the narrative is striking a chord as many MLA candidates are also now projecting their Khandayat roots.
(The author is a Homi Bhabha Fellow. Views are personal.)