Development that begins at the village boundary and reaches the remotest corner of the country — not just the skylines of big cities — is the true measure of good governance. That is the message Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi amplified on Sunday, 25 October 2026, sharing a pointed quote from Prime Minister Narendra Modi that frames inclusive, last-mile growth as the defining yardstick of state power.

What Modi said — and why Majhi is saying it now

The post carries a bilingual quote — first in Odia, then in English — attributed directly to the Prime Minister: 'ବିକାଶର ଅର୍ଥ କେବଳ ବଡ଼ ସହରର ପ୍ରଗତି ନୁହେଁ' ['Development is not just about the progress of big cities']. The full rendering reads: 'Balanced development, improved connectivity and access to a dignified life ensure that no one is left behind in the journey of progress. This is the true goal of good governance.'

By sharing the quote in Odia — the language of the state he governs — CM Majhi roots the national message firmly in an Odisha context. The subtext is deliberate: Odisha, a state where the BJP formed its first-ever government in June 2024, carries large stretches of tribal hinterland, coastal districts, and KBK-region villages that have historically lagged in infrastructure and human-development indices.

The 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas' thread running through the post

The philosophy Majhi is invoking is not new — it traces directly to the NDA's 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas' doctrine, formalised after 2014 as the central organising principle of federal welfare delivery. The idea: growth metrics measured only by metro GDP or urban infrastructure miss the majority of India's population. Real progress is counted at the last mile — the pucca road reaching a remote block headquarters, the broadband connection in a forest-fringe village, the hospital at a drive-able distance.

The Bharatmala Pariyojana, launched in 2015, operationalised part of that philosophy by prioritising road corridors linking underserved districts to national highways. For a state like Odisha — which spans dense forests, tribal corridors in Koraput and Malkangiri, and a long coastline — connectivity is not an abstraction. It is the difference between a farmer accessing a mandi and watching produce rot on a kutcha track.

Governance as a brand — and a budget signal

Political messaging of this kind rarely floats free of fiscal intent. Watch the Odisha state budget allocations in the coming fiscal year for rural road expansion, district-level connectivity projects, and last-mile welfare delivery schemes. When a chief minister publicly aligns with the Prime Minister's definition of 'good governance', it typically precedes either a policy push or a pitch for enhanced central funding — sometimes both.

For the BJP in Odisha, the narrative serves a dual purpose: it consolidates the party's image as a reformist government committed to rural uplift, and it reassures constituencies outside Bhubaneswar and Cuttack that they are not an afterthought in the new administration's development calculus.

One sentence from the quoted text carries particular weight: 'No one is left behind in the journey of progress.' In a state where development has long been geographically uneven, that is less a platitude and more a political contract — one that CM Majhi has now put into writing, in his constituents' own language.