Coming as they did at a time when elections are nearing, the latest case of woman atrocity of killing a schoolteacher in Rayagada and the flood salvage fiasco have indeed put Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in a tight spot.
Though Patnaik has a baggage of discomforting issues to settle before facing the 2014 polls, like providing relief to lakhs of duped chit fund depositors and coming clean in the mining and coal scams, the longest-serving Chief Minister, who has been surrounded by no less number of friends-turned foes and supporters-turned detractors sharpening their knives to chop off their shares of flesh, has to make a tightrope walk.
No doubt, the success in the first-phase UlB polls was an advantage for him, but nevertheless he has to quell the simmering discontent in western Odisha by reliable and efficient steps for establishment of a High Court Bench to repeat the success spree during the second phase of the polls, which is too difficult again, given the protests of the High Court Bar and the increasing demands for more number of HC Benches at various parts of the State making the issue too impracticable as well as feeble.
The Itishree Pradhan murder case, which added another chapter to the shameful history of crimes against women, the incidences of which have been too many during the current third term of the Patnaik Government, has led to an outcry across the State and given new ammunition to the opposition parties on the issue of safety and dignity of women.
Whether it is Brahmagiri doctor, Pipili Dalit, Puri blind, Kendrapada rape and burn victim or the latest Rayagad Shiksha Sahayak, each heinous incident has proved to be damaging for the BJD Government for repeatedly making a mockery of law and order.
The fact that the incidents have been occurring one after another when the Chief Minister is holding the Home portfolio, makes Patnaik’s position yet weaker. Not only the spurt in the women atrocity and harassment cases, but the phenomenal jump in general crimes of duping, snatching, loot, robbery and murder everywhere in the State have confirmed that law and order has hit the nadir. Why the BJD Government alone, no Government on earth would ever like such incidents to occur again and again. However, with a society going morally and ethically bankrupt and antisocial elements enjoying field days, where the Government is too incapable to control the fast-deteriorating law and order situation, such incidents occurs at regular intervals with shocking frequency. For sure, given the fast rising incidents of crime with criminals enjoying nexus and patronage of ruling leaders, the Patnaik Government has gone too loose. Barring a few, almost all cases pertaining to woman atrocity during Patnaik’s rule are one way or the other entangled with his own people. Of course, Patnaik has been quite unrelenting on persons of his party howsoever powerful whose culpability is anybody’s guess. Former Ministers Pradeep Maharathy and Raghu Nath Mohanty, among others, are burning examples. In
the latest case, the name of Jayaram Pangi is being dragged. Time will show what fate awaits the BJD MP. But despite the hard stance of Patnaik, people will certainly hesitate to give him a clean chit if such incidents occur ceaselessly.
The flood management fiasco is another matter of consternation for the BJD. The Government had been in a quite comfortable position until the Phailin and subsequent floods and rains. The UlB success was its main source of comfort. It had got forecasting about the Phailin much earlier and so far as evacuation was concerned it had made it a point that no lapses were committed. However, the rains and floods caught the Government unawares. They threw cold water on the goodwill the Government had achieved after the Phailin. Corruption and mismanagement of relief materials and partisan consideration in distribution of relief created a mess with the miseries of the people getting even more acute each passing day. Damages have been colossal.
Nobody is sure if the Centre would provide the sum of money the State has demanded for restoration works. The failure to assuage the miseries of the calamity victims and undertake satisfactory restoration works may act as double whammy for the Patnaik Government. It has to find out ways to for a safe exit from the crises.
last but not the least the chit fund scam is yet again a tough challenge for Patnaik. It involves satisfying lakhs of depositors. Far more important is how it makes an arrangement so that duping by non banking financial organisations does not take place. So far, the Government has made some headway. The law to prohibit duping of gullible investors has been in full force. But the RK Patra panel constituted to look into the case is overburdened as it has got over 8 lakh complaints. The Government has formed special courts and appointed judges for adjudication of the cases on a fast track basis so that the properties of the fraudulent firms are confiscated and the genuine investors who were made scapegoats get compensated. The Government will surely gain a lot if it succeeds in settling the dispute in time.