Mohan Jena, former MP from Jajpur, passed away on December 12. People from different quarters mourned his untimely death while remembering his activism in socio-political movements in the State. He as a politician rose from the socio-economic margin but left his lasting imprints in public life. His engagement with public causes started early as a student.
The post eighties phase witnessed phenomenal student movements and active campus politics. Academically promising students from almost all streams had been joining Left politics as a mission to serve the country to build an egalitarian society. The engineering, medical, law and social science students of those days and many others passionately neglected their careers to join public life. Mohan Jena (1959), elder son of a Dalit jute mill worker of Dhanamandal village, joined the same path. It was his social status and sufferings that forced him to join the row and dream a society free from caste based hatred, untouchability, social segregation and economic exploitation.
The post Emergency phase was a kind of political revival that encouraged radical politics inspired by sacrifices and values of freedom struggle. It was primarily the motivational inspiration of knowledgeable and caring Left leaders of those days who were also uncompromising fighters, full of emotions and love for mankind and the audacity to destroy the many forms of inequality through radical political transformations. Mohan Jena’s political upbringing started with such a socio-political environment.
He started as a student activist of AIDSO, the student wing of SUCI(c) and emerged a popular student leader of the Kendrapada College. Later, he was president of the Utkal University Student Union in 1983. Those days campuses throbbed with with ideological and political battles. Jena's passionate involvement in street fights for public cause and mentorship with fellow comrades made him popular.
The Emergency also witnessed an unfortunate departure from Left politics by many promising leaders of those days. It was also the beginning of an era of economic and political liberalisation with the emergence of narrow nationalism and identity politics based on caste, religion and ethnicity that slowed down the Left political approaches to structural economic and political issues. The rise of organized charity work by patronisation of Government and corporate made ways for the rise of apolitical non-government organisations, as well as issues based politically neutral activism without a holistic approach to radical social transformations. Post nineties also witnessed a phenomenal growth of secular and social justice politics. The OBC reservation issues, Mandaland Ram Mandir, VP Singh and Kansi Ram--all these new developments gave a twist to the Indian politics. Ambedkar , Lohia, Phule and Periyar become the most attractive ideological icons of social justice and secular politics of marginalised sections. The trend influenced many campus leaders from marginalised sections including Jena and many of his close associates to think differently.
Antonio Gramsci ideas of hegemony and organic leadership become more appealing to side with identity politics. One of the reasons why such a shift took place was the Indian mainstream Left parties were been suffering with much inherent weakness to internalize Indian social realities. The Dalit-Bahujana becomes more vocal and assertive in identity politics but not in Left politics. Jena with others founded the Jana Adhikar Samukya and Pragatisila Patrika Adhikar to make a different political attempt initially closer to Left ideas. Later he shifted to a social justice agenda which was closer to his heart and mind. Ambedkar and Lohia Vichar Manch was an initiative for an organizational and ideological platform for mobilisation of the Dalit Bahujana politics in Odisha.
Electoral politics and populism became a perceptible trend for many aspiring public positions as a career and recognition in public life. He joined legendary Biju Pattanaik to make a journey with electoral politics but he was always passionately raising issues by using different political space available to him. In spite of his many qualities of a mass leader, he was chosen by the parties as an applicant for reserved constituencies. He was offered a ticket from Balipatana constituency in 1995 and finally it was cancelled by pressure from the then upper caste leaders of Puri controlling decisions regarding party tickets of reserved constituencies. Jena was a candidate of the JanataDal for Jajpur Lok Sabha in 1998. Though he was defeated by a huge margin yet later he got elected twice as a BJD candidate from the same constituency from 2004 to 2014. He was denied ticket by BJD both in 2014 and 2019 and then he joined the BJP and tried for a ticket from the same constituency but failed. His tenure as a MP witnessed the killing of Adivasies in Kalinganagar for industrialization and abject suffering of the marginalised sections in many parts of the State but as a ruling party MP, he suffered contradictions within and remained silent as a disciplined party member. He expressed his anger, frustration and helplessness differently on many accusations though.
Jena in a way was a victim of a feudal-hegemonic politics in the State because he raised issues of caste based atrocities against Dalits and Adivasies , temple entry movement in Keredagada of Kendrapada, issues of Barbar community in Brahmagiri , demanded OBC reservation, protested entry of non Dalits in scheduled caste list of the State. All these put the parties in an uncomfortable position. He was not economically well off to manage the growing monetary demands of elections. He couldn't get a political platform of his choice for long. His death is due to prolonged health issues and mental suffering but he left many imprints in socio-political life of the State as a socio-political activist-leader with passion to serve humanity.
(manasbbsr15@gmail.com)