Odisha's new chief minister Mohan Majhi exhibits 'accessible' demeanour

BHUBANESWAR: “I am your chief minister, people’s chief minister, who is approachable and accessible,” said Mohan Majhi while interacting with people and listening to their grievances as he garlanded statues of several iconic personalities of the state at different places in Bhubaneswar before he took oath, thus marking a shift in the way a CM interacts with the common people.
Unlike his predecessor Naveen Patnaik, who was known for maintaining a distance from the public, Majhi on Wednesday was seen freely interacting with the crowd gathered at Janata Maidan, the venue of the swearing-in ceremony, shaking hands with them, allowing people to take selfies with him and even embracing them. The new CM, who has been accorded Z-plus security cover like Naveen, even asked his security staff not to block people from coming near him.
“This is a government for the poor. You will find your chief minister mingling with you. I will speak to you and hear from you. In the last 24 years, the government, which was in office, should have addressed the basic problems of the people,” Majhi told journalists after listening to the grievance of a woman who requested the new CM to arrange for a livelihood for her and her husband, who live in a slum near Vani Vihar.
Naveen was constantly accompanied by a posse of security personnel, making it difficult for ordinary individuals to approach him. He often faced criticism from his political rivals for not interacting with the common people. During recent election campaigns, BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, criticized Naveen for not meeting leaders of his own party and his difficulty in speaking Odia.
Majhi’s humility and accessible demeanour left a positive impression on the public, who were never accustomed to such friendly conduct from their previous CM. “We never imagined that we would be able to speak to our chief minister directly. For the last 24 years, we never got a chance to directly air our grievances to Naveen Patnaik. The feeling of this change is nice. Mohan Majhi is a humble and down-to-earth CM,” said Sasmita Pradhan, a slum-dweller. Majhi went to another slum-dweller's house and spent some time with the family members.
“I am a lower-rung employee of Odisha state road transport corporation. The salary we get is meagre. I cannot feed my family. I requested the CM to increase our salary. He assured that under PM Modi’s guarantee, the double engine government will try to fulfil all the basic needs of the poor,” Bijay Das, a commoner, said.
Unlike Naveen, CM Majhi interacted with journalists multiple times and lifted the restriction on the access of media persons to the state secretariat. The BJD govt had stopped media entry to the secretariat during Covid in 2020.