The political confrontation surrounding the recently passed Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, escalated in Odisha on Thursday as opposition Congress threatened to launch an economic blockade across mineral-rich districts if the legislation is not repealed.
The call to action was taken during a high-level Political Affairs Committee (PAC) meeting of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC), chaired by All India Congress Committee (AICC) Odisha in-charge Lalji Desai.
In a statement, the OPCC said, “It was decided at the PAC that if the President did not immediately withdraw this (MMDR) anti-Odisha and anti-tribal law, an economic blockade would be imposed in the districts where the mines of the state were located.”
The committee also approved a resolution opposing the new mining law during a meeting with INDIA bloc allies, including the Congress, CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML) Liberation, Forward Bloc, NCP, and SP.
“The MMDR Bill directly compromises Odisha’s sovereign authority over its natural mineral reserves and will be fiercely resisted. We will urge the President to withhold assent to the Bill. We also demande an immediate special session of the Odisha Legislative Assembly to discuss its impact on our state,” OPCC president Bhakta Charan Das stated.
While both the Congress and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) have launched severe criticism against the statutory changes, State Steel and Mines Minister BB Jena strongly refuted their arguments.
“The allegations made by the opposition are not correct. The new mining law will not harm any state, including Odisha. The state will get its mining revenue as usual,” Jena said.
Meanwhile, senior BJP leader and former Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan launched a sharp counterattack against BJD president and former chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who had previously released a video message calling on citizens to oppose the new mining law.
In a video message post on social media, Pradhan accused Patnaik of misleading people over the legislation.
“Former Chief Minister of Odisha and Leader of Opposition @Naveen_Odisha is trying to mislead the people of Odisha by releasing a video regarding the MMDR Amendment Bill-2026. This new bill brought by the Modi government is a historic step for the country’s mining security and the economic future of Odisha,” Pradhan said.
He maintained that Odisha would face no revenue loss under the amended framework, stating that the state would continue receiving 100 per cent of auction premiums, royalties, and District Mineral Foundation (DMF) funds.
Addressing Patnaik’s assertions that his government’s fiscal management brought the state out of bankruptcy, Pradhan claimed that the state’s fiscal recovery was actually driven by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2015 MMDR reforms, which raised ad valorem royalty rates from 10 per cent to 15 per cent alongside creating the landmark DMF structure.
Pradhan highlighted that Odisha’s annual mining revenue increased exponentially from Rs 5,000 crore to Rs 50,000 crore solely due to the Modi government’s structural mining overhauls.
Odisha has received Rs 37,000 crore from the DMF Fund, he said.
“Naveen Babu, this is not yours, but a reflection of the Modi government’s clean policies. You are crying crocodile tears by talking about the Orissa Rural Infrastructure and Socio-Economic Development Act of 2004, which was struck down by the Hon’ble High Court in 2005, and your government only kept on filing cases in the Supreme Court for 18 years from 2006 to 2024, without taking any action,” Pradhan said in the social media post.
Pushing back against Patnaik’s claims of leaving behind Rs 50,000 crore in state reserves while reviving the economy between 2000 and 2024, Pradhan remarked, “When you assumed office in 2000, the state’s total debt stood at Rs 18,000 crore, but by the time you left, people were burdened with debt exceeding Rs 96,000 crore. Is increasing the per capita debt from Rs 6,000 to Rs 26,000 your idea of economic reform?”
BJD chief whip in the Assembly Pramila Mallik warned that the state’s fiscal health would suffer drastically once its authority to levy regional mining cesses or taxes is stripped away.
“Let us explain how Odisha will gain from the mining after the Centre took over all its rights. The state cannot impose any tax or cesses. The state will severely suffer,” she said.
Both the BJD and Congress continue to push for a special session of the Assembly to deliberate on the controversial new mining law, while the ruling BJP dismisses their objections as politically motivated.
