Congress party workers in Odisha fought a pitched battle with the police on Thursday as they tried to picket the Odisha legislative assembly, alleging rise in crimes against women and the suspension of the party’s 14 MLAs from the assembly. The Congress party’s protest rallies marked a dramatic escalation of its campaign against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state.
Police baton-charged the protesters, lobbed tear gas shells and used water cannon to disperse Congress workers as they broke barricades to march towards the assembly. The Congress workers, in turn, pelted stones and hurled chairs along the Mahatma Gandhi Marg leading to the assembly, injuring two police personnel, and attempted to set a police van on fire.
The suspensions of the MLAs, announced by speaker Surama Padhy, came as a response to Congress MLAs repeatedly disrupting house proceedings.
The party has seized on the emotive issue of women’s safety, citing chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi’s own admission in the assembly that over 36,000 women and 8,400 children have gone missing in the state. Their persistence ended in chaos with a Congress MLA climbing the Speaker’s podium as scuffles erupted with BJP legislators. The party’s state president, Bhakta Charan Das, condemned the suspension of all 14 Congress MLAs calling it as an assault on democratic norms and government’s authoritarianism.
The twin spectacle of picketing and suspension of MLAs has thrust Congress into the spotlight, signaling a calculated attempt to corner the opposition space in Odisha — a state where it has long struggled to regain political relevance. In recent months, the Congress has noticeably ramped up its political activities in Odisha, aiming to reclaim the opposition space in a state long dominated by the Biju Janata Dal and the BJP.
A strategic pivot
After years of political marginalisation, the Congress has adopted an aggressive posture in Odisha. Following a dismal performance in the 2019 Assembly elections when it won just nine seats and a meager 16.12% vote share and an uptick in 2024 Assembly elections (14 seats but vote share declining to 13.4 %), the party is now mounting a comprehensive offensive. “We would attack the government in multiple dimensions – starting from street protests to symbolic campaigns inside the Assembly,” said Das.
Political analyst Satya Prakash Dash said the Congress’s strategy hinges on mining public discontent with the BJP-led government. “By highlighting governance failures, corruption, and social justice issues, particularly in tribal-dominated regions like Koraput and Nabarangpur, Congress is attempting to rebuild its political credibility,” he said.
Though it has just 14 MLAs in the 147-member Assembly, Congress has stepped into the political vacuum as it senses an opportunity in the state’s politics after Biju Janata Dal’s (BJD) shock defeat last year. After losing the assembly polls, BJD seems to have adopted a surprisingly low profile and, despite being the principal opposition party with 51 MLAs, its activities have been limited to sporadic statements and symbolic gestures, such as complaining to the Election Commission over alleged voting discrepancies in the 2024 polls. With party president Naveen Patnaik avoiding the aggressive opposition role expected of a leader with his stature, Congress has chosen to adopt confrontational tactics — a stark contrast to the BJD’s passivity.
However, BJD leader Debi Prasad Mishra dismissed the notion of BJD being passive as the primary opposition party. “Naveen Patnaik has been focusing on party unity and preparing for an effective opposition role. The party’s decision to raise concerns with the Election Commission about the 2024 election data indicates its intent to remain relevant and challenge the BJP’s narrative,” he said.
Will BJP be the unintended beneficiary
Political analysts, however, have raised a critical question: Will the Congress party’s seeming resurgence be more beneficial to the BJP than being detrimental? The arithmetic of electoral politics suggests a nuanced scenario.
In the 2024 parliamentary and assembly elections, the BJP won 78 Assembly seats and 20 out of 21 Lok Sabha seats. The BJD, after 24 years of uninterrupted power under Patnaik, was reduced to the opposition benches with 51 seats. The Congress’s aggressive positioning could fragment the anti-BJP vote. Historical data shows that in 2019 and 2024, the BJD and BJP collectively secured over 80% of the vote share, leaving Congress with just about 15% votes. If Congress manages to double its vote share to 30%, it might erode the BJD’s support base without significantly challenging the BJP’s core vote bank of 40%. The Congress’s attempt to reclaim opposition space might mirror its experiences in states like Gujarat, where a fragmented opposition inadvertently strengthened the BJP.