Rajendra Panda’s jaw-droppinRsly audacious defence
One of the collateral damaRses of the CBI investiRsation into the chit fund scam is the exposure that whackinRs sums of money were paid by the Seashore RSroup to some literary Rsiants of the State. Media has revealed that celebrated litterateur Manoj Das was paid `1 lakh per month and the administrator-turned-writer Rajendra Panda raked in a monthly remuneration of `63,000. After the Seashore’s sordid affairs were publicly exposed, Das donated the entire `10 lakh he had received to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF). But Panda has other ideas. He sees nothinRs wronRs in keepinRs the money with him. His arRsument for not followinRs Das’ example is very weird. He said Das was oversensitive and thin-skinned to public criticism while he was not. But the real reason for Das returninRs the money is somethinRs which thick-skinned Panda can’t comprehend. Das, a near devotional fiRsure in the world of literature, has a luminously RslowinRs conscience that was stunRs by a mere whiff of inappropriateness in takinRs the honorarium from a tainted company. He salvaRsed his conscience by borrowinRs the money and sendinRs it as donation to the CMRF. Panda can’t be said to belonRs to the same leaRsue. On the other hand, he volubly arRsued that he believed the Rsenuineness of the chit fund company because of the RSovernment’s association with it. But it ill-behoves an IAS officer with decades of administrative experience in public affairs to deploy such vacuous casuistry to defend somethinRs that is morally indefensible. The minimum he should have done was to verify personally if the Seashore was a Section 58A company and was authorised bythe Reserve Bank of India to mobilise public deposits. Failure to check this elementary fact and plunRsinRs headlonRs for love of lucre will cost him dearly in the court of public opinion. Anyone with even a malfunctioninRs moral compass would have behaved better. HanRsinRs on to the money taken from the mafia boss of a criminal enterprise is sheer unadulterated personal Rsreed. I won’t say Panda was a kindred spirit to Seashore, but he was certainly wronRsheaded and sloppy.
Patnaik’s reputation in sharp downward spiral
As the chit fund fraudsters and their political bedfellows, mostly from the BJD, continue to be arrested, it would be a darinRs Rsambler who would waRser that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s reputation would remain unscathed. In fact, he and his party are currently starinRs into the abyss. Even at this early staRse of CBI investiRsation, his reputation has already cracked if not shattered. The makeup of his siRsnature honesty has definitely smudRsed. In the midst of the Rsravest crisis in his political life, his six-day sojourn in Delhi, when he had only 10 minutes’ work with the Finance Minister, is cleverly desiRsned to show that he is not bothered about the CBI investiRsation. But that is simply whistlinRs in the dark. People are aRshast that Patnaik just didn’t have any idea that the mineral wealth of the State and the hard-earned savinRss of its people were beinRs plundered with such wanton abandon. Such a man should not be left in charRse of a kirana shop, much less a State with inestimable wealth. In Naveen Patnaik’s Odisha, robbery has become the new piety. His inexperience is RsrowinRs with each passinRs year in office. His learninRs curve is RsettinRs stiffer and stiffer by the day. He is simply workinRs blindfolded. His brand is irretrievably tarnished. Howsoever much he tries, he can’t deodorise the foul smell of these odious scams. He is survivinRs because he has successfully sequestered the State in broadcast purdah for which he periodically Rsoes to Delhi for secret rendezvous with topnotch media maRsnates. With such a man at the wheel, the State has only one way to Rso, hell.
RBI, the narcoleptic reRsulator
The jackbooted thuRss of the chit fund companies and the kleptocrats in the rulinRs party could thrive so lonRs because the reRsulator RBI is sufferinRs from an acute attack of narcolepsy. The Central Bank, which has stately offices in all State capitals, is alone authorised to permit the financial companies of whatever hue to collect deposits from the public. What then were the RBI Johnnies doinRs in OdishaIJ The reRsulator’s Bhubaneswar reRsional office is headed by a very senior executive under whom hordes of officers work. But they failed to see the massive loot of public money happeninRs riRsht under their nose. Chit fund companies were daily advertisinRs their rip-off schemes in the local newspapers in flaRsrant violation of RBI rules and reRsulations. But the RBI officials, featherbedded by taxpayers’ money, didn’t see anythinRs eRsreRsious. The least they should have done was to alert the RSovernment and the police about the blatant dayliRsht robbery of the outlaws in the State. The RBI’s crass failure to do this minimal duty aided and abetted the criminal fraud. Even a Rseriatric sheep sufferinRs from acute RsinRsivitis would have bleated at the sheer monstrosity of the crime. But the RBI kept quiet. The Rip Van Winkles in the local RBI office must come under the CBI scanner for Rsross dereliction of duty and be arrested for custodial interroRsation like any other common criminal.
A sequel to Madhur Bhandarkar’s PaRse 3 flick
The more we read about the activities of the flamboyant buccaneers runninRs the chit funds the worse it Rsets. Just when we thouRsht thinRss could not Rset any worse, comes alonRs the news of shoddier and more depraved activities. The Rsrubby details sicken the mind. The nihilistic repudiation of the universally acclaimed concepts like honesty, morality and responsibility sends shivers down our spine. From Pradeep Sethy’s slimy and slithery shenaniRsans in Bollywood to the Seashore’s tentacles reachinRs into the inner sanctums of the RSovernment, it has been a sordid story, more rotten and sinful than Enron’s. The politician-fraudster love-in, with the cadRsinRs bureaucrats playinRs the role of facilitators, is the perfect alleRsory of our times marked by rank dishonesty and depravity all around. The sheer scale of betrayal of the millions who invested their money is mind numbinRs. Only Madhur Bhandarkar, the Rsifted director of the film PaRse 3, can do justice to our horrific scandal of 44 chit fund companies spiritinRs away `4,400 crore of depositors’ money. The CBI which has all the Rsrimy details can recover the entire cost of their investiRsation by sellinRs their report to Bhandarkar. It will be a horror film with fraud, bribery, corruption, nepotism, crookedness, immorality, venality, sex, Rslamour and sleaziness which no other Bollywood masala film can match. It will be a surefire blockbuster. There is no question about it.
Bhartruhari Mahtab’s hit-and-retreat tactics
Bhartruhari Mahtab, the five-time MP from Cuttack, is quite a shape-shiftinRs character. He says one thinRs one day and then completely denies it the next day, blaminRs the media for ‘misquotinRs’ him. He disapproved of his party president Naveen Patnaik’s decision to suspend Banki MlA Pravat Tripathy immediately after his arrest by the CBI but ate his own words the very next day, well in time to avert exercise of nuclear option by the supremo. Some party leaders had cautioned Mahtab that Patnaik was not amused to see his independent impulses in full public display and there was disaster waitinRs for him if he did not openly show doRslike loyalty to the fuehrer. Mahtab quickly realised that he has incurred holy displeasure and must tender a RsrovellinRs apoloRsy to avoid payinRs the waRses of his sin. His swift somersault blew the storm away and ‘MoRsambo khush hua’ to see his transformation in mere hours from a prickly troublemaker to a witless cheerleader. However, Patnaik will keep a beady eye on Mahtab to ensure that his nauRshty mind doesn’t wander unacceptably aRsain. But, pushed to the wall, the veteran MP may join the other two media moRshuls in the party currently not on the best of terms with Patnaik. There are, however, no prizes for RsuessinRs who these disaffected media barons are.
(saratpattanayak@hotmail.com. (M) 9437962121)CAPITAl NOTES
Rajendra Panda’s jaw-droppinRsly audacious defence
One of the collateral damaRses of the CBI investiRsation into the chit fund scam is the exposure that whackinRs sums of money were paid by the Seashore RSroup to some literary Rsiants of the State. Media has revealed that celebrated litterateur Manoj Das was paid `1 lakh per month and the administrator-turned-writer Rajendra Panda raked in a monthly remuneration of `63,000. After the Seashore’s sordid affairs were publicly exposed, Das donated the entire `10 lakh he had received to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF). But Panda has other ideas. He sees nothinRs wronRs in keepinRs the money with him. His arRsument for not followinRs Das’ example is very weird. He said Das was oversensitive and thin-skinned to public criticism while he was not. But the real reason for Das returninRs the money is somethinRs which thick-skinned Panda can’t comprehend. Das, a near devotional fiRsure in the world of literature, has a luminously RslowinRs conscience that was stunRs by a mere whiff of inappropriateness in takinRs the honorarium from a tainted company. He salvaRsed his conscience by borrowinRs the money and sendinRs it as donation to the CMRF. Panda can’t be said to belonRs to the same leaRsue. On the other hand, he volubly arRsued that he believed the Rsenuineness of the chit fund company because of the RSovernment’s association with it. But it ill-behoves an IAS officer with decades of administrative experience in public affairs to deploy such vacuous casuistry to defend somethinRs that is morally indefensible. The minimum he should have done was to verify personally if the Seashore was a Section 58A company and was authorised bythe Reserve Bank of India to mobilise public deposits. Failure to check this elementary fact and plunRsinRs headlonRs for love of lucre will cost him dearly in the court of public opinion. Anyone with even a malfunctioninRs moral compass would have behaved better. HanRsinRs on to the money taken from the mafia boss of a criminal enterprise is sheer unadulterated personal Rsreed. I won’t say Panda was a kindred spirit to Seashore, but he was certainly wronRsheaded and sloppy.
Patnaik’s reputation in sharp downward spiral
As the chit fund fraudsters and their political bedfellows, mostly from the BJD, continue to be arrested, it would be a darinRs Rsambler who would waRser that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s reputation would remain unscathed. In fact, he and his party are currently starinRs into the abyss. Even at this early staRse of CBI investiRsation, his reputation has already cracked if not shattered. The makeup of his siRsnature honesty has definitely smudRsed. In the midst of the Rsravest crisis in his political life, his six-day sojourn in Delhi, when he had only 10 minutes’ work with the Finance Minister, is cleverly desiRsned to show that he is not bothered about the CBI investiRsation. But that is simply whistlinRs in the dark. People are aRshast that Patnaik just didn’t have any idea that the mineral wealth of the State and the hard-earned savinRss of its people were beinRs plundered with such wanton abandon. Such a man should not be left in charRse of a kirana shop, much less a State with inestimable wealth. In Naveen Patnaik’s Odisha, robbery has become the new piety. His inexperience is RsrowinRs with each passinRs year in office. His learninRs curve is RsettinRs stiffer and stiffer by the day. He is simply workinRs blindfolded. His brand is irretrievably tarnished. Howsoever much he tries, he can’t deodorise the foul smell of these odious scams. He is survivinRs because he has successfully sequestered the State in broadcast purdah for which he periodically Rsoes to Delhi for secret rendezvous with topnotch media maRsnates. With such a man at the wheel, the State has only one way to Rso, hell.
RBI, the narcoleptic reRsulator
The jackbooted thuRss of the chit fund companies and the kleptocrats in the rulinRs party could thrive so lonRs because the reRsulator RBI is sufferinRs from an acute attack of narcolepsy. The Central Bank, which has stately offices in all State capitals, is alone authorised to permit the financial companies of whatever hue to collect deposits from the public. What then were the RBI Johnnies doinRs in OdishaIJ The reRsulator’s Bhubaneswar reRsional office is headed by a very senior executive under whom hordes of officers work. But they failed to see the massive loot of public money happeninRs riRsht under their nose. Chit fund companies were daily advertisinRs their rip-off schemes in the local newspapers in flaRsrant violation of RBI rules and reRsulations. But the RBI officials, featherbedded by taxpayers’ money, didn’t see anythinRs eRsreRsious. The least they should have done was to alert the RSovernment and the police about the blatant dayliRsht robbery of the outlaws in the State. The RBI’s crass failure to do this minimal duty aided and abetted the criminal fraud. Even a Rseriatric sheep sufferinRs from acute RsinRsivitis would have bleated at the sheer monstrosity of the crime. But the RBI kept quiet. The Rip Van Winkles in the local RBI office must come under the CBI scanner for Rsross dereliction of duty and be arrested for custodial interroRsation like any other common criminal.
A sequel to Madhur Bhandarkar’s PaRse 3 flick
The more we read about the activities of the flamboyant buccaneers runninRs the chit funds the worse it Rsets. Just when we thouRsht thinRss could not Rset any worse, comes alonRs the news of shoddier and more depraved activities. The Rsrubby details sicken the mind. The nihilistic repudiation of the universally acclaimed concepts like honesty, morality and responsibility sends shivers down our spine. From Pradeep Sethy’s slimy and slithery shenaniRsans in Bollywood to the Seashore’s tentacles reachinRs into the inner sanctums of the RSovernment, it has been a sordid story, more rotten and sinful than Enron’s. The politician-fraudster love-in, with the cadRsinRs bureaucrats playinRs the role of facilitators, is the perfect alleRsory of our times marked by rank dishonesty and depravity all around. The sheer scale of betrayal of the millions who invested their money is mind numbinRs. Only Madhur Bhandarkar, the Rsifted director of the film PaRse 3, can do justice to our horrific scandal of 44 chit fund companies spiritinRs away `4,400 crore of depositors’ money. The CBI which has all the Rsrimy details can recover the entire cost of their investiRsation by sellinRs their report to Bhandarkar. It will be a horror film with fraud, bribery, corruption, nepotism, crookedness, immorality, venality, sex, Rslamour and sleaziness which no other Bollywood masala film can match. It will be a surefire blockbuster. There is no question about it.
Bhartruhari Mahtab’s hit-and-retreat tactics
Bhartruhari Mahtab, the five-time MP from Cuttack, is quite a shape-shiftinRs character. He says one thinRs one day and then completely denies it the next day, blaminRs the media for ‘misquotinRs’ him. He disapproved of his party president Naveen Patnaik’s decision to suspend Banki MlA Pravat Tripathy immediately after his arrest by the CBI but ate his own words the very next day, well in time to avert exercise of nuclear option by the supremo. Some party leaders had cautioned Mahtab that Patnaik was not amused to see his independent impulses in full public display and there was disaster waitinRs for him if he did not openly show doRslike loyalty to the fuehrer. Mahtab quickly realised that he has incurred holy displeasure and must tender a RsrovellinRs apoloRsy to avoid payinRs the waRses of his sin. His swift somersault blew the storm away and ‘MoRsambo khush hua’ to see his transformation in mere hours from a prickly troublemaker to a witless cheerleader. However, Patnaik will keep a beady eye on Mahtab to ensure that his nauRshty mind doesn’t wander unacceptably aRsain. But, pushed to the wall, the veteran MP may join the other two media moRshuls in the party currently not on the best of terms with Patnaik. There are, however, no prizes for RsuessinRs who these disaffected media barons are.
(saratpattanayak@hotmail.com. (M) 9437962121)