As if by divine coincidence, the Super Cyclone of 1999 caused unthinkable disaster in Odisha and eventually dislodged the Congress regime mainly headed by JB Patnaik and temporarily by a confused Giridhar Gamang emergently deployed by the party high command.
The new BJD was given a rousing welcome with Naveen Patnaik as boss. Some frontline BJD founders had imagined Naveen would only be a puppet dancing to their tunes. The Naveen-headed party had a landslide victory; and soon it was known that Naveen is no novice or greenhorn in matters of human affairs.
He had his vision clearly spelt out and the teammates were told clearly how to go about implementing projects and schemes based on his ideas without protesting even once. The cool, firm steel in Naveen emerged slowly. Rightly then, he inducted late Pyari Mohan Mohapatra as the principal advisor and history was created across tenures until Pyari fell out dramatically in 2012. Post Pyari too, Naveen continued to flourish even better than before. Around this time, a strange phenomenon ‘Naveen Mystique’ was coined by political analysts keenly watching the Odisha politics. Naveen took reins when everything was in bad shape due to the Congress misrule and lastly the devastation due to the Super Cyclone. Immeasurable support in cash, kind and labour poured in from around the world.
The Naveen Government did its best to ensure maximum amount of material goods and other support services reached the distressed without visible pilferage. Unfortunately though, a huge number of NGOs, perpetually languishing without money or support ever since inception, cropped up to be chosen as helping outfits. A majority of these social work agencies headed by rabidly greedy founders made such hay as the sun kept shining. A few NGO heads slavishly kept brushing shoulders with the powerful administrators and cut a niche for themselves to earn false glory which they capitalised later to remain in public good book. The post-cyclone reconstruction efforts lasted nearly a decade and everyone involved made fortunes without being noticed. The audit system was purposefully kept off as the work was mostly on firefighting mode.
Between the Super Cyclone and now, three severe cyclones have blown over Odisha. But the preparedness the Naveen administration is considered enviable even by the US disaster management experts. Phailin, Hudhud and the latest Titli have all come and gone. The Odisha disaster outfit, which had not even known how to clear roads and recover dead bodies, is now rated the best in the world.
Cyclones in the Indian Ocean region did not have a name until the most Super Cyclone in 1999. Soon, the process of naming cyclones began in 2000 and the Super Cyclone was retrospectively named ‘Paradip Cyclone' for records.
The naming involves several countries in the region and is done under the aegis of the World Meteorological Organisation. A formula was agreed upon in 2004 by eight countries in the region -- Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand. All contributed a set of names which are assigned sequentially whenever a cyclonic storm develops.
The name ‘Nilam' was contributed by Pakistan, while another was called ‘Murjan' by Oman. Likewise, ‘Mahasen' came from Sri Lanka and ‘Phailin' from Thailand. The names from India added to the database include ‘Agni’, ‘Akash’, ‘Bijli’, and ‘Jal'. In store are ‘Leher’, ‘Megh’, ‘Sagar’ and ‘Vayu' while Pakistan gave ‘Nilofar’, ‘Titli’ and ‘Bulbul'.
Unlike in the past, it is so much the easier and less confusing to say ‘Cyclone Phailin’ than remember the storm's number along with its longitude and latitude. Most importantly, it gets a lot easier also when you have more than one storm to track.
Nearly two decades later in 2019, a severe tropical storm is approaching the Odisha coast. They have named it ‘Fani' as suggested by Bangladesh. ‘Fani' means the hood of a big cobra.
‘Fani' will come and go and the best disaster managers of the planet will take utmost care to ensure minimum damage is caused to life and property. Interestingly, divine foretellers say all natural disasters have proven Naveen to be a good saviour Chief Minister, kind if a messiah! The 1999 disaster dislodged the Congress regimes. But Naveen is expected to come back to power against small odds, though to prove his administrative mettle even better.
Hudhud happened in 2014 with a devastating landfall near Visakhapatnam. The Odisha disaster management masters rushed there and did such a most magnificent job that Naveen got a ‘superhero tag'. The Odisha outfit had not only reached the affected pockets earlier than their Andhra counterparts but also rendered services so fast and so efficiently as the local experts would not ever be able to conceive. Andhra Pradesh had earlier stood by Odisha during the Super Cyclone. Naveen returned the favour multifold. Now as the State authorities are bracing up to face ‘Fani', the residents are not so badly panicked because they know the Naveen administration would look after them and keep them safe.
Naveen and team know just too well that Modi cannot be dismissed this time around more because of the Congress president ridicules the Prime Minister in a manner that is not socially acceptable or tenable in any court of law. Modi supporters are doing great anti-Congress propaganda in good time. Sonia has not spoken a word about such terrible things even once.
Priyanka has lost much of glamour because of being wife of controversial Vadra. Thus, Modi is for sure. And hopefully, he will mellow down a lot from his laughable ‘loudmouth madness'. He calls self a ‘chaiwallah', yet sports one million rupee clothes, designer watches and spectacles.
It is predicted that Modi will fall short of the comfortable number; will be forced to seek support from neutral regional outfits like the BJD by striking mutually helpful deals. Mamata Banerjee will continue with tirades until law grabs her to silence.
Mamata has every right to oppose any party or political person, but she has no right to protect bureaucratic functionaries of any stature when enforcement agencies are looking for the mouth some evidence of complicity in unlawful ventures.
Despite a widespread impression of an undercurrent support for the saffron party in Odisha, the BJD will win to retain power. The grassroots penetration of the BJD is so deep and the masses are so pro-Naveen that defeat seems highly improbable for him.
(The writer is a core member of Transparency International, Odisha)
