Score big with soft power: How Odisha tries to re-brand itself

Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik

Forget tanks and treaties, the new battleground for global influence is the playing field. Major sporting events are a goldmine for promoting a country's image. They attract investors, tourists, and capture the world's attention.

Cut to India, Odisha has redefined the concept on how to score big with soft power. Sports are more than just games – they're national pride factories. Victories spark nationalistic fervour, while losses can sting deeply. It's not just about the Olympics either. Cricket, soccer, and other global sports are all players in this diplomatic game.

Also read: Odisha: Where a minister has no name

Odisha is known as the Sports Capital of India. Bhubaneswar is home to the multi-purpose sports complex, Kalinga Stadium, which has hosted the Men's FIH Hockey World Cup. The Barabati Stadium in Cuttack is another major stadium in the state.

Odisha is investing more than Rs 2,500 crore in building sports infrastructure, which include 90 indoor stadia in urban local bodies (ULBs), OSD to CM, R. Vineel Krishna announced, early 2023.

Many state observers say the CM has very astutely used Sports Infrastructure to rebrand the state as a modern, happening hub. By building world-class sports facilities some of the best talent in India and the world would be trooping into Odisha. The multiplier effect would cascade to boost tourism. And, above all, the horror stories of poverty, drought, economic backwardness would be subsumed in the glitz and glamour of sport.

While the intent is good and paying off for Odisha, voices within question usage of these facilities, maintenance costs, and then the million-dollar question: Where is the money coming from?

The funds, as gathered from local inputs, are coming from revenues generated by the Mining industry. Odisha’s mineral resource is legendary.

In November 2023, Naveen Patnaik approved 12 key projects with a cumulative investment intent of Rs 84,918.75 crore. The investment is meant for various sectors like apparel, textiles, green hydrogen, green ammonia, steel, power, renewable energy, and chemical and petrochemical downstream sectors.

Despite these staggering numbers, the state keeps pressuring the Centre for a special package.

In May 2023, the CM inaugurated three football training centres in Bhubaneswar before the Intercontinental Cup. These were Odisha Football Academy, Bhubaneswar Football Academy and Capital Arena Football.

The other talk of the town are 11 high-performance centres branded as novel initiative.

They have been set up at the Kalinga Stadium:

•     Abhinav Bindra Targeting Performance (ABTP)

•      Dalmia Bharat Gopichand Badminton Academy

•     JSW Swimming HPC

•       Khelo India State Centre of Excellence (KISCE) for Athletics, Hockey, and Weightlifting

•     KJS Ahluwalia and Tenvic Sports HPC for Weightlifting

•     Odisha Naval Tata Hockey High Performance Centre (ONTHHPC)

•        Odisha Aditya Birla and Gagan Narang Shooting HPC

•       Reliance Foundation Odisha Athletics HPC

•     SAI Regional Badminton Academy

•        Udaan Badminton Academy

•      AIFF High Performance Centre

To explain how this all works, the Odisha government says they have formulated a PPP model (Public-Private Partnership). Odisha Sports Department is responsible for infrastructure development and other expenditures fall under the budget umbrella of corporate associations on board.

Sounds hunky-dory but Corporates and governments usually have a tenuous relationship. Those cracks can’t easily be papered over. There's still a yawning gap between people's stadium hopes and stadium realities.

Art Carden writing for Forbes says: “When construction starts on a new stadium or convention center, local leaders congratulate themselves like they've won some kind of great economic victory. They haven’t. They’ve simply fleeced the taxpayers for the benefit of construction companies, team owners, and other special interests by saddling them with white elephants for which they’ll pay for decades.”

89 multi-disciplinary indoor stadiums, 20 hockey training centres, 16 sports boarding houses and 314 rural mini stadiums are springing up across the state.

Think Olympics and World Cups: these are political power plays in disguise. Winning the right to host these mega-events isn't just about bragging rights. It's a strategic move to boost a country's reputation on the world stage.

Also read: Power struggle in Odisha: Insiders vs outsiders

Canada, for example, uses sports to project unity and strengthen its national brand. Indigenous sports are often highlighted to further this narrative.

The other elephant in the room is how many people would be using these facilities in Odisha? And would they end up being dead-infra?

An informed voice in Bhubaneswar says while Hockey has been adopted by Odisha and promoted it was never a craze in the state. Except for Sundergarh, which is known as a cradle for Hockey, this hoopla around the game suited Naveen’s narrative. No wonder, the state has gone back to promoting Cricket via a swanky world-class stadium at Barabati in Cricket.

The newly launched training centres focus on the well-rounded development of young competitors.  Winning is a long-term objective.

To counter the lack of optimism from certain quarters, the Odisha government's "PAY & PLAY" scheme aims to increase the use of sports infrastructure in the state. It's a way of creating opportunities for people to use existing facilities.

Under the "Yuba Odisha Nabin Odisha" initiative to foster youth engagement in sports, culture, and social endeavors over 12,000 teams have registered for six disciplines under this initiative.

At the final checkpoint, curiosity arises as to why Naveen Patnaik opted for a transformation through sports. There are interesting connections to the past that shed light on this decision. In 1995, South Africa played host to the Rugby World Cup, and it was during this time that Nelson Mandela skillfully utilized the symbol of the Springbok jersey and hat. Despite being a team favored by white South Africans and scorned by black South Africans, Mandela managed to use it to unify the entire country.

It was akin to a magic trick that successfully brought people together.