Controversies galore the electoral turf of India, especially when it is parliamentary elections.
Similarly, dress code has led to tussle between Biju Janata Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party in Odisha. The state will be voting for 147 Assembly seats along with 21 Lok Sabha seats simultaneously.
It started with BJD leaders Sasmit Patra and Swayam Prakash Mohapatra showing up at a press conference wearing lungis instead of kurta pyjama or shirt pant.
Lungi, a comfortable piece of clothing of men in India — particularly in the humid east and south — has created problem in Odisha politics.
BJD leaders wore lungi in an counterattack on Union Minister and BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan who targeted Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for addressing voters through a video message where he was wearing a lungi.
People wear lungi in Odisha only in their homes. The lungi isn’t a social attire, like in the southern states, and no respectable Odia is generally seen on the streets in it.
Reacting to the video of Naveen Patnaik, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan made a statement about the Chief Minister’s public appearance in a lungi.
The jibe of the Union Minister was one which prompted the BJD to embrace the lungi and hit back at Dharmendra Pradhan.
“The handloom sector has its own economy in the state. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has lampooned the handloom sector and the Sambalpuri lungi. He has hurt the culture of Odisha and Sambalpur,” said BJD leader Sasmit Patra at the Tuesday presser.
The BJD in Odisha is campaigning hard to retain power in the assembly and to emerge ahead of the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls.
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