JAYANARAYAN MISHRA’S ATTENTION-DEFICIT DISORDER
The BJP’s macho culture, personified by its senior leader Jayanarayan Mishra, reared its ugly head again when the Sambalpur strongman swung a sword in violation of the prohibitory orders while celebrating Hanuman Jayanti in a public procession in the city. The incorrigible recidivist, in a repeat of his manhandling of a police officer on the same occasion in 2013, also pushed to the ground a senior police officer on duty and frightened many more. He was arrested and sent to jail, triggering street protests and a bandh in the city. Mishra sought to justify his action on the ground of traditional religious practices. But should not law be equal to all religious groupsIJ Why should one group be above the lawIJ An activity specifically banned by the police must not be done, period. Otherwise, the lawbreaker must face the full force of law. The three-time MlA knows that.
Yet he chose to break the law. His brush with law clearly had other motives. He has been spoiling for a high-profile public display of his machismo just before the elections to the newly-established Sambalpur Municipal Corporation. With none of the BJP’s election strategies working according to their plans in the recent civic polls, Mishra thought his wild and reckless gymnastics might dazzle the estranged supporters to vote for the party, nay him, in the coming corporation elections. He actually started his election campaign by forcing the police to arrest him. But those who have seen his aggro in menacingly swinging an unsheathed sword in the public will surely consider him to be his party’s electoral millstone. His haughtiness in bearing and attitude repels people. Nobody in his party has quite the comparable talent for being such a nuisance in the public. The flamboyant buccaneer’s arrogant disregard for law and decency will not help him stage a political comeback. Burning tyres and enforcing bandh may give him an illusion of popularity. But people think differently. After seeing on TV what he actually did, who on earth will like his disgusting buffooneryIJ
GlACIAl PACE OF INDUSTRIAlISATION
Of the 92 MoUs signed years ago in the in the steel, power and aluminium sectors, 42 are still facing land acquisition and other problems. But the picture is appalling if we see the position of the non-MoU projects. Only 24 out of 224 have started production and the rest are marooned in a sea of problems the Government has not been able to sort out for years. In a review meeting last week, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik held the district officials responsible for resolving these problems and assured them to amend certain policies, if required, to expedite industrial activities in the State. But why hold the district-level officials responsible for tardy implementation of the MoU and non-MoU projectsIJ The problems are persisting for years and are known to the Chief Development Commissioner who is also the Chief Secretary of the State, head of the entire administration.
More specifically, the problems are also known to the Additional Development Commissioner who is of the rank of the Chief Secretary. What about Industries Department’s Principal Secretary who is the designated point man for the Government’s policy of rapid industrialisationIJ The feet of this triumvirate should be held to fire for the glacial pace of progress, not those of the juniors in the hierarchy. But, more to the point, does our insouciant Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik have enough fire in his stomach for rapid industrialisationIJ If he is serious, he should be firing on all cylinders. But he remains as immovable as if he is posing for an oil portrait. If he remains laidback, how can he expect his officers, senior or junior, to deliverIJ Many problems are so intractable that they require apex-level administrative intervention. If the top level, particularly the Chief Minister, remains sclerotic, nothing will really move. No progress can be achieved by holding these otiose rounds of review meetings.
POlICE COMMISSIONER: STRONG AGAINST MINOR OFFENCES AND WEAK AGAINST MAJOR ONES
The other day the BDA bitterly complained against non-availability adequate police force to carry out demolition of illegal constructions even though all others were ready for the task. Police is in integral, in fact the most important, part of the eviction team which has officials from the BDA, BMC and GA in it. Given the sensitivity of the task and the public and political outrage they generate, strong police presence is a prerequisite before any eviction is attempted. In all cases, the Commissionerate Police is part of the survey team that decides to evict illegal constructions for decongesting the roads for better traffic. But citing more urgent engagement, it backs out at the last moment. The result: eviction team retreats and trespasses flourish all over the city. Whatever the Commissioner may say about shortage of forces, when we see groups of them deployed to check helmetless motorcyclists, chatting amiably on city streets and talking over mobile phones, large chunks of his credibility go down the drain. Anyone who believes his grouse of manpower shortage must have a wholly deficient sense of reality. The perfectionist Commissioner is not satisfied that the streets are, by and large, free from helmetless riders.
But his goal is to make them completely free. His fetish for helmetless driving has kept him focussed on it like a laser beam throughout his tenure as the Police Commissioner. His unblinking fidelity to this minor transgression is a wonder to behold. This excessive navel-gazing has diverted platoons of his force to keep a hawk eye on these offenders. Since they can’t find many, they while away their time in gossiping and talking over mobile phones in full public view. The Commissioner’s problem is he can’t distinguish which tasks are more important and which ones less. He is very strong against minor offences and very weak against major ones. Eviction should be freed from his dead hand. Deploying scores of policemen to catch an occasional helmetless rider looks absolutely bonkers. The Commissioner thinks providing force for eviction is an extra optional job for the police. But eviction is frontline duty; the Commissioner can’t flee from it.
KAlINGA TV: WIll IT BREAK OR REINFORCE THE STEriOTYPE OF A SOFT CHANNElIJ
Birth of a new 24X7 news channel is always a very welcome development. It is not for us to tell the promoters how they should run their channel, but we will only say how we feel it should be run. In the context of a backward State, the role it should play is very clearly defined. What impedes the State’s economic development and what needs to be done must be its focus. People are perishing to know why our economic progress is zigzagging instead of spiralling despite our superabundant natural resources. Explaining the deep chasm between the Government’s policy and the ground reality should be its goal. Pursuit of truth, based on extensive research, must be its overarching mission.
Hypocrisies and absurdities in public and political life should be relentlessly exposed. That is what an impatient public wants. Temptation to dumb down contents to pander to the lowest common denominator must be resisted. People are far more intelligent and discerning than we think. Particularly when we are fed ad nauseam with a surfeit of dance and drama, festival and entertainment, self-serving news and shallow analysis, there is a desperate need for an alternative to the brain-rotting channels daily dishing out utter trash. If the new channel can fill this void, it will be hands down the best news outlet. From the commercial point of view also, it will be a success, given the viewers’ preference for credible news with a dash of entertainment, not a glut of it. Given the excellent pedigree of the channel’s promoters, we hope it will be a signpost, not a weathercock.
(saratpattanayak@hotmail.com (M) 9437962121)