FORMER BUREAUCRAT Wajahat Habibullah, while serving as director of the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie, called up his school friend, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, saying that he was sending to him a freshly-minted IAS officer, who also writes movie scripts, an interest they all shared. Tamil Nadu born V.K. Pandian was initially allotted the Punjab cadre. But when he got married to his batchmate, Sujata, who was from Odisha, Habibullah suggested an inter-cadre transfer, and Pandian got his first posting in 2002.
In his 21 years of service in Odisha under one of India’s longest-serving chief ministers, Pandian, 49, has proven his mettle as an efficient administrator. In the last 12 years, he has worked directly with Patnaik, overseeing the development work in Odisha, and earning the chief minister’s complete trust.
As Patnaik prepares to make a bid for his record sixth term in the 2024 assembly polls, which would make him India’s longest-serving chief minister by next August, Pandian, too, is making an audacious career move by opting for voluntary retirement from the IAS. His application was cleared in a day by the Centre, waiving the mandatory notice period―a rarity―as Patnaik is learnt to have intervened at the highest levels on his behalf. Pandian will now have a more active role in the administration, overseeing the 5T (Transformational Initiatives) and Nabin Odisha, a concept aimed at transforming the state.
Man of the masses: Pandian addressing a rally.
Pandian is likely to join the Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal soon. The move has taken everyone by surprise, causing a political storm in the state known for its sober politics. Will Pandian be the political heir to 77-year-old Patnaik? This seems to have become the talking point across the state.
The shift began in March when Pandian undertook a tour across the state to engage directly with the people. The reception he got was unprecedented. People showered flowers on him, women wanted to talk to him, while the youth wanted selfies. Once during a meeting in Puri a person threw ink on him and the women assembled there tied rakhis on him for “protection”. The red threads could be seen on his hands in subsequent meetings, too. In 62 days, Pandian covered 147 constituencies, addressing 200 meetings and engaging with 25 lakh people of which nearly 70 per cent were women. When he went to Kendrapara, he was greeted with chants of jamai babu (son-in-law) as his wife hails from the district.
Pandian went as an emissary of the chief minister, a babu who could “break the silos” that existed in various departments and act as single-window solution for people’s problems. But as more and more people gathered to listen to him, he emerged as a leader. Patnaik and Pandian came under sharp attack from the opposition as they blamed Pandian for carrying out what was clearly “political work”.
Pandian (right) with Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw at the site of the Balasore train accident | PTI
Pandian has now quit the bureaucracy, and his focus is likely to be the upcoming Lok Sabha and assembly elections. “The chief minister’s vision is to have a new Odisha. He wants to achieve 5T, which is teamwork, technology, transparency, transformation and timeliness. My job is to fulfil it. It is not a scheme, but a dream for an empowered Odisha,” Pandian told THE WEEK. “Now, I will have more freedom to fulfil this. It is a blessing to work with the chief minister.” He was tight-lipped about his political role, but there is enough indication that Patnaik has picked him to be his Chanakya. But despite his sharp political sense and the ability to deliver, Pandian has his task cut out. He matches Patnaik with his frugal lifestyle, sticking to his trademark untucked white shirt, beige trousers and sandals. And he compliments Patnaik’s reclusive persona as he engages with people.
But can a Tamil be accepted in Odisha, which is culturally so different? Pandian is well-versed in Odia language, is married to an Odia and is a staunch devotee of Lord Jagannath, the presiding deity of the state. He visits the temple in Puri every Saturday, “surrendering” himself before the divine presence.
Odisha’s Jagannath culture adds to the state’s inclusivity and helps people shed their outsider tag. The BJP’s charge in the state is led by Aparajita Sarangi, a former IAS officer who is married to an Odia officer. She belongs to Bihar and now represents Bhubaneswar in the Lok Sabha. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, also a former IAS officer, was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Odisha, although he is from Rajasthan. The next elections will witness an interesting play as retired IAS officers strategise for opposing camps.
Pandian will be encouraged by the fact that the outsider tag has never been a major problem in Odisha, which has two Sikh MLAs. Former prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao was elected to Lok Sabha from Berhampur in 1996. “Pandian is the son-in-law of the state. It would have been better had he left the job earlier to do the work for the state. He is here in Jagannath temple every week,” said Kunu Palakdhari, a sevayat (a person who performs ritual services) of the Puri temple. “Patnaik started the temple corridor work. It is after 600 years that work is being done here at the temple. Once the heritage corridor is complete, people will praise the government. Both Patnaik and Pandian have Jagannath’s blessings.”
On October 28, Pandian was at the temple early in the morning―a style of work that has earned him the 4am-officer sobriquet―for assessing the work on the heritage corridor. He has ordered the project, which has cost the state 03,200 crore, to be completed by December 15 for its likely opening in January. If Prime Minister Narendra Modi is highlighting the opening of the Ram temple in Ayodhya and his dream of making India a developed country by 2047 as his key campaign slogans, Patnaik is likely to focus on the heritage corridor and the Nabin Odisha scheme.
Pandian is in charge of Nabin Odisha, a project which aims to transform Odisha in terms of delivering development by scale and speed. Earlier, the state government upgraded high schools by providing IT-enabled classrooms, followed by senior secondary schools and now colleges. A similar initiative is being launched to make government hospitals at par with the private sector.
With the BJP working aggressively to make inroads, the BJD may go for a major overhaul ahead of the elections, bringing in fresh faces. “Pandian has the blessings and the complete confidence of the chief minister. He is perfectly positioned to take forward the chief minister’s vision for the state and the government. He is the ideal glue for the party to thrive,” said BJD spokesperson Sasmit Patra. Pandian has age on his side, and he might be able to bring in some freshness and dynamism to the BJD as two decades in power has resulted in some rot. But for that to happen, Patnaik will have to announce a political role for him.
Pandian has handled multiple roles in the past, flitting from one job to the other with ease. As a young student, he was enrolled in a sports school in Tamil Nadu because he wanted to make a name as a middle-distance runner. He later moved to Delhi to study plant physiology at the prestigious Indian Agriculture Research Institute. Although he cleared the civil services examinations, he was also interested in filmmaking. Those close to him say that he wanted to try his hand at filmmaking, but destiny willed otherwise.
As an IAS officer, Pandian’s pioneering work in multiple fields won him accolades, including the Helen Keller award for his proactive role in ensuring benefits for persons with disabilities in Mayurbhanj district when he was district collector. In 2007, when he was posted in Patnaik’s home district, Ganjam, his work among the disabled and the HIV patients got noticed at the national level. He successfully implemented the pilot project for transferring MNREGA wages directly into beneficiaries’ accounts, which was the precursor of the current direct benefit transfer scheme. It was during his posting in Ganjam that Patnaik called him to the state capital to work as his personal secretary.
As Pandian has quit the IAS and is expected to take the political plunge, his first big test will be the Lok Sabha and assembly elections. A winning start will clearly set him up for a for a rewarding innings in politics.