Odisha is known for its Jagannath Temple, poverty amid rich natural resources and lately a magician Chief Minister who has been creating records in winning elections with a rising number of seats successively. The BJD has literally pulverised all known national and regional parties to fine dust. Naveen Patnaik is so God-blessed that he may not even be able to explain the word ‘defeat’ except spelling it right. Experts say that even if an inanimate statue or a pet animal under the BJD banner is pitted against other party leaders, it would win hands down. The ordinary citizens would believe Naveen does not steal money as he has no family; he wears simplest of dresses and footwear, rides an ordinary, indigenously-made car and, most importantly, does not ever speak ill of detractors. The party with no good enough opposition has a monopoly ruling status.
But some pinheads in the party have begun playing filthy tricks to display strength and might unnecessarily cause damage to the BJD image. A couple of days ago while Central Minister of Textiles Santosh Gangwar was visiting Bargarh with other colleagues, BJD rowdies stopped the former’s motorcade, attacked and smashed the Minister’s car. This has brought the BJD shame and infamy across the country. The BJP was on a publicity spree to prove that it has fared much better in two years under Modi’s stewardship than Naveen has done in fifteen years. The BJD should have left them alone. The violent showdown by BJD workers has not gone down well. The great regional party has been rated low for being insanely reactive and violent against the BJP’s simple attempt at beating its drum, which every political outfit resorts to from time to time.
For that matter, the BJD had gone so complacent that they fielded a filthy joker called Papu Pompom against big leaders during the last general elections. The people crushed the clown so ruthlessly that all the contenders scored better than the shamefully-hated fool representing the BJD. Now, this clown has been exposed as a cheap, vulgar exploiter of innocent girls and is absconding to avoid arrest.
The BJD too has its share of blame for trying to dump crooks on the masses. The film industry was always exploitative, but the tiny Odisha movie industry’s underbelly is now seen as dirtier than imagined. Actors, producers and directors et al are being nabbed after aspirant young women are exposing the mean sexploiters after being heavily cheated repeatedly. The chit fund scams have been patronised by Odia film actors on a regular basis. And most unfortunately, some of the movie hulks have been sent to the Parliament where they appear seldom to sit like fools and keep gaping in wonder but eat up the salary and perks like greedily hungry jackals do consume corpses without compunction or remorse for having done nothing good to the public. They will also keep devouring public money in retirement benefits for an entire lifetime. The Odia film industry has gone berserk in choosing vulgar stories, obscene dialogues and particularly unforgivably unacceptable titles. The one Papu clown chose for his own production should have landed him in jail for being publicly obscene and vulgar. Thank God, some of the exploited girls flipped the lid to spill the beans in good time. Papu is sure to eat jail food, study types of mosquito bites and learn to share a single unclean toilet commonly with fifty or more mindless convicts for the sins he has committed. Papu Pompom or whatever idiotic name he has acquired for himself is not the only casting couch in the entertainment industry. There are countless wolves in the sector ho exploit innocent women with false promises of giving breaks in movies or serials. Everybody knows that, but for fear of stigma most young women are silent despite acute suffering. The one who exposed them is a brave girl and deserves public support.
* Puri has been in news for multiple reasons, mostly related to lord Jagannath. The Daita servitors are not of priestly class. They are not Brahmins with the sacred thread and are not supposed to even touch the deities during most of the sacred rituals, including food offering procedures. They are not endogamous like the priestly class. The Daita community can marry into any caste without being outcast. They are given opportunity only when nursing and massaging and, maybe, administering medicines becomes necessary during sickness periods. Most of the Daitas were extremely poor until a late Chief Minister granted them some dignity and importance after having been persuaded by a small top cop in the late 1980s.
Further, late Ajit Panja as Union Tourism Minister put the Rath Yatra on the national television live when this community is busy serving the deities. Some Daitas struggling for survival were treated well and capitalised the relationship to pose themselves as Pandas which they cannot ever become. Since Puri has been a preferred tourist destination for the neighbouring Bengalis, some Daitas fleeced them saying they are the principal servitors at the temple. Even until late, the post of Badagrahi meaning ‘Daita guard’ was not considered significant for there is not much visible activity by them. Gullible wealthy Bengal Hindus got bowled over and were deceived to believe that touching the deities would wash all their sins. The Daitas, thus, gained importance and made hay when the sun kept shining. Across a decade or so of deceitful dramatics, the Daitas stood to gain and never lost one moment to pose before the TV cameras covering the twelve-day festival when the deities remain outside the temple. Some Daitas brazenly violated all norms, rules and High Court orders to make easy kill by facilitating sinful touching of deities by foolish, wealthy devotees on the Snanbedi. Daitas have become so arrogant with easy money earned from illegal money lending, devotee extortion activities and such other adventures that they have begun imagining they can hold any power to ransom including Government authorities. Some errant, ignorant State officials fear that the Daitas can stall Rath Yatra unless kept in good humour.
Just days ago, a Daitapati, who has already availed bail after being caught gambling, did not like to be asked by an attending doctor to get the mandatory service ticket at the headquarters hospital in Puri even after the doctor attended to his grandchild in need of medical relief without any formality. The Daita said he is too big to fetch a ‘service ticket’; the doctor did not relent; and the Daita in a fit of rage grabbed a chair and swung it down on the medic’s head injuring him seriously. law took its own course, and the court has sent him to fourteen days of judicial custody. Maybe, he will watch Rath Yatra on the jail television this year. Just around the same time, another Daitapati appeared on a TV interview and said shamelessly that touching deities is an age-old tradition and the devotees can hug and scratch the divine bodies for salvation. He also said people hate Jagadguru Shankaracharya and the Gajapati Raja for initiating action against the practice by bringing in rules. The whole Hindu world has reacted to such a statement by the arrogant non-priestly servitor. Public agitation has become fierce already to have the culprit nabbed by slapping the appropriate IPC section for grossly hurting people’s religious sentiment.
lastly, Naveenbabu as the CM has no business to ensure rituals to be performed rightly because he is the boss of a federal region of a secular country. He can only pass strict orders to ensure the pilgrims and tourists don’t suffer due to want of facilities and officers on duty don’t shirk work or err and, above all, law and order be perfectly in place. He would do great to make sure religious minorities don’t feel suffocated or ignored because of the Hindu festival. What is most expected of him is to take severe action against an audacious Daitapati who has hurt the sentiment of a huge community.
(The writer is a core member of Transparency International, Odisha)
