Former chief minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president Naveen Patnaik on Friday asked the members of the party’s students’ wing to expose the false promises made by the BJP during the election.

Addressing the functionary of its students’ wing at the party office, Naveen said: “You need to highlight the false promises made by the BJP during election, regarding free electricity up to 300 units and ₹3,000 pension to all social security beneficiaries. In Subhadra Yojana, the BJP had promised to give ₹ 50,000 to all women. Now they have announced ₹10,000 in a year. This is indeed disappointing. You should be aware people on these issues.

He asked the functionaries of the students’ wing to be active on social media. “Social media has now tremendous influence on society particularly on the youth. So be active in social media and fight with vigour against misinformation and lies,” Naveen said.

Naveen also reminded the functionaries of the students’ wing that tripping of power has never been the object of the BJD but it’s only a means to serve the people. “The BJD is a regional party and has been serving the people of Odisha for the last 27 years. Now it has become a social movement with the active participation of all sections of society particularly the students, youths, women, farmers and labourers,” said Naveen.

Naveen also tried to educate the students on the last election results. “In a democracy, there lies both win and defeat. We had secured 41.02 per cent in the last general election. In terms of the absolute number of votes, we are also ahead of others. The love and affection of the people of Odisha is our greatest strength,” said Naveen.

Naveen told the students’ functionaries how the party has been working for the creation of a knowledge society. “In the past 24 years, many educational institutions of higher learning including new medical colleges, and technical institutions have come up making Odisha the education hub of Eastern India. A record number of scholarships have been instituted. Besides reservations for students of government schools in medical, engineering and professional colleges have started yielding results,” Naveen said.

He also maintained that because of the BJD government’s education policy and inclusive approach to higher education, Mangala Muduli, a young man of the Bonda tribe from a remote village of Malkangiri has successfully cracked NEET to become a doctor. “Our high school and college transformation under 5 T (transformational initiative) has given wings to dreams of our students especially from poor families and rural areas,” Naveen said.

Stating that Odisha has now the distinction of becoming the sports capital of India, Naveen asked the student functionaries that good works have to be carried forward by them as they are the custodians of future Odisha.