Bhubaneswar, April 29 -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his interview with a national news channel and Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the party's National President JP Nadda in their speeches at public meetings have mentioned that the Odia language and Odisha's asmita (pride) are under threat. This has now created ripples in state politics and is quickly snowballing into one of the biggest poll issues in Odisha.

The state was formed as a language-based independent state in 1936, and since then, it is for the first time that language, literature and culture are going to dominate the poll narrative.

"We feel proud of our language. Our state's language is the only language which has a 200-year-old history and heritage and it has been a...