Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi delivered a sharp rebuttal to the opposition BJD in the state Assembly today after lawmakers staged a protest wearing black T-shirts that read “Weak Chief Minister, Strong Health Minister.”
The protest occurred during the discussion on the expenditure demands of the Home and General Administration departments. While the opposition walked out, Majhi directly addressed their criticism, pointing to the 2019-2024 period under the previous BJD regime.
“The story from 2019 to 2024 was very clear — who was weak and who was strong,” Majhi said. He reminded the House that the “strong Health Minister” of that time had been rising in prominence before he was murdered, adding that “everyone knows why it happened.” He sarcastically remarked that the black T-shirts worn by the opposition today appeared to have been printed during that very period.
The Chief Minister also mocked the BJD’s conduct during the recent Rajya Sabha elections, saying party MLAs had gathered at Naveen Niwas wearing lungis and turned the occasion into a marketing event for Khordha lungis. He asserted that the results of the Nuapada by-election and the Rajya Sabha polls clearly showed “who is the strong Chief Minister and who is the weak one.”
Majhi contrasted the governance styles, claiming the former Chief Minister never met poor citizens even once to hear their grievances and addressed the public only through virtual speeches from Naveen Niwas. He added that even after the COVID-19 pandemic, the previous leader continued to live in fear of the virus.
Turning to law and order, the Chief Minister said the BJD government had failed to deliver justice in the high-profile Pari and Mamita cases. He described the law-and-order situation under the previous regime as “disastrous,” with the Maoist and Naxal problem persisting for a decade. “After the double-engine government came to power, Odisha is set to become Maoist-free completely within the next seven days,” Majhi declared. He added that the government is not only cracking down on extremists but also strengthening infrastructure in the affected regions.
On corruption, the Chief Minister said several corrupt officials who had siphoned off crores of rupees have been arrested and warned that “there will be no escape for the corrupt.”
Rejecting the opposition’s charge that law and order has deteriorated, Majhi stated that crimes against women have not increased and the state’s conviction rate has risen to 62 per cent — the highest in the country. He acknowledged that cybercrime has emerged as a major challenge and said the government is taking all necessary steps to tackle it.
