At a wedding dinner gathering on a summer evening a couple of years ago, the host, a freshly retired public servant, was crazily worked up to please some of the guests who appeared too important to him. Three of them, two IAS officers and an IPS, were seated apart in one decently clean corner of the open field, menials shuttling like medieval time slaves waiting, bearing and serving select dishes on plates on a makeshift dining table.
The rest of the world, no matter who was around, kept trudging along in a long queue with empty plates in hand as the dinner party was on the usual buffet mode.Around this peak dinner hour, a stockily built, dark, grey-haired guy in his late 50s appeared silently, and after blessing the newlywed couple on the display podium, walked away to join the queue to collect his dinner.
He politely made way for women, kids and the elderly to go ahead of him; collected his food and guided anyone nearby to a dish he thought was great. Suddenly, someone noticed him and came on the run panting.“Sir, your seat is out there among your equals. Please forgive us,” the party host guy pleaded with him. “Mr chief host would be devastated to know you are eating among ordinary beings. Please sir, come this way with me,” he further pleaded.
A few others too recognised him in the euphoric bustle. The dark athletic guy was the chief of Odisha police, DG Prakash Mishra, who had entered the IPS way back in 1977. He hugged the slavish fellow and very humbly told him to look after others. He was just too fine and enjoying the food. No one got to know when he disappeared too.
That is Prakash Mishra, the pride of Odisha in the sense that he had held very high positions both at the Centre and in the State, but never had he thrown his weight around.The family culture was strong. His entire career reads like a fairytale. People talk of him as a folklore character, impeccable conduct, highest sense of probity and integrity and, above all, monumental humility. Yet, never has he been a lax police administrator at any point in time or position.
The Odisha Government had rolled out a red carpet to welcome him to the chief of police’s post after discarding Manmohan Praharaj, who too has not been able to figure out what could have gone wrong with him.
Growingly, the Odisha people are realising that the Naveen Patnaik administration is run by unpredictable super brains. Prafulla Ghadai, after being constantly ignored, exploded one fine day, saying a coterie calls all shots. Naveenbabu never gave him a fair deal. He was dismissed conclusively. Very strangely, his son keeps hailing the boss for taking the right step.
Prakash Mishra has been talked of as a pride of Odisha for his exemplary service. His commendable Maoist insurgency management is part of history. His staff control and job delegating skills have been exemplary.There is no faintest taint on him as per the closest scrutiny. But he was shunted as DGP ungracefully to a non-police assignment all on a sudden. He felt let down and expressed desire to go away on a Central assignment offered to him from before.
Rather than feel belittled, he chose to accept the Central post. Incidentally, he was one of the shortlisted contenders for the CBI Director’s post quite when he was serving as a glorified DGP of Odisha. Now when he said he wants to go, the State Government said “NO”, citing the silly reason of shortage of IPS officers in the State. It is common knowledge that regional Governments strive for having a State-cadre IPS guy or girl placed as CBI Director.
There is a big murmur of resentment across the State, not only among the police cadres. It is rumoured that he knew too much to put the State Government in an embarrassing position! So, the political biggies, in connivance with rotten public officials, were keen that Prakash be shamed as a dishonest top cop.
The police housing outfit was headed by him in 2006-7, when he had routinely placed an advance amount of money with cement and steel companies for timely supply of quality materials all that after a due diligence having been done. There has been no graft allegation or quid pro quo issue relating to him.
No supply company or vendor has had any complaint. The Government, as if panicky that he might commit something to its detriment, is anxious to keep him out of the country’s premiere probe agency. When the news of a Vigilance case having been registered against him broke out, the message travelled only at snail’s pace because everyone with a working head rubbished the very idea of anyone being so gutsy as to speak ill of the most popular, gentleman top cop.
The shocking news has turned out to be true. The charges are so flimsy that a conspiracy is certain to have been hatched to keep Prakash out of the probe agency for ever.The Vigilance Department has levelled charges of noncompliance of the advance money given to vending companies, which could have been routinely complied with by any successive incumbent of the non-police State transport company where Praksh-like brains are sent to rot.
The fourth Naveen-led innings is going to be very tough. The ride this time will be the bumpiest and most dangerous. Prafulla Ghadai’s outburst may turn out to be relevant. The coterie has now to remain alert, night and day. Any unpleasant thing can happen. People have not taken well some of the disturbing developments in the recent past. They want to know all the truth for they are the masters whom the servants are expected to inform what’s happening around and why.
(The writer is a core member of Transparency International, Odisha)