When Fans chanted ‘Modi, Modi’ during Naveen’s Speech

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who remains the undisputed leader of Odisha for the last 15 years and now enjoying a fourth term as the CM, had to face some unpleasant situation yesterday at the Rourkela Steel Plant while sharing dais with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

During Naveen Patnaik’s speech at the function to mark the inauguration of the modernized Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), the pro-BJP people chanted slogans ‘Modi, Modi’, bringing huge embarrassment to Naveen Patnaik and BJD. They made all efforts to interrupt Naveen’s speech, but he looked unfazed and completed his address without any break.

Due to the noise, Naveen’s speech was not properly audible. Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar, Jual Oram and Dharmendra Pradhan continued to request the crowd to remain calm, but they did not stop. In the past, many other non-BJP CMs such as Prithiviraj Chavan (Maharashtra), Hemant Soren (Jharkhand), Omar Abdullah (J&K) and Bhupinder Singh Hooda (Haryana) too faced such embarrassing situations.

The Congress had even issued a notice to all its Chief Ministers to avoid sharing dais with the Prime Minister. The ruling BJD has condemned the incident, saying it was not part of healthy democracy when rival leaders are not allowed to speak at public functions. “If it continues, non-BJP CMs would fear attending official functions addressed by Modi,” said BJD Spokesperson Amar Prasad Satpathy.