A powerful political potentate, Bhakta Charan Das is a Congress heavyweight having pan-India acclaim. Currently, he is the chairman of the PCC Campaign Committee, a member of the AICC Publicity Committee and a senior spokesperson of the AICC. Das began his political career after he came in contact with the Yuva Chhatra Sangharsh Bahini of the JP movement in 1977. He waged a relentless struggle under this banner against the all-pervading corruption in his Kalahandi district. He carried a virtual war against indiscriminate cutting down of trees in the Niyamgiri Hills and some other hilly ranges of the district. He exhorted the primitive dwellers to save forests from the illegal timber contractors and corrupt forest officials. He organised farmers’ rallies in 1983 under the leadership of veteran socialist leader Kishan Pattanaik. Soon, his name spread like wildfire among the common masses. He opened his innings to the State Assembly in 1985 from the Bhawanipatna constituency. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1989, 1996 and in 2009. In 1990, he was inducted as Union Deputy Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports. In 1991, he was elevated to the rank of Minister of State for Railways in the Chandrasekhar Government. The significant trait in his leadership is that he picked up the issues which hit headlines both at home and abroad, be it the untold tale of the starvation deaths of Kalahandi and the agitation of “Save Niyamgiri Hills”. In an interview to The Pioneer, Das spoke to Sugyan Choudhury on the political scenario in Odisha ahead of the 2019 elections.
The Bharat Bandh call recently given by the Congress was a big success in Odisha. Does this suggest that the party shall stage a comeback to power in 2019?
After the new dispensation came in with Niranjan Patnaik as the PCC president and myself and three others as working presidents, three secretaries with a core committee, a campaign committee and such many other committees, we are working in tandem with Jitendra Singhji. The Congress has emerged stronger. The way the party’s rank and file starting from punchayat-level workers to urban workers joined the bandh shows the Congress has occupied a formidable political space in the State. It is definitely going to come back to power in 2019.
In the bandh, 21 opposition parties joined hands with the Congress. In the general elections, do you think that the Congress will enter into an alliance with non-BJP and non-BJD forces in Odisha?
The possibility of entering into alliance with non-BJP and non-BJD forces is always there in the context of the elections. If required in the State’s larger interest, the Congress will enter into alliances with JMM, BSP, RJD, JD, JD(S) SP and such other parties.
Do you think a “Mahagathbandhan” shall take shape under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi before the elections?
Rahul Gandhi’s leadership is of paramount importance at the national scenario. There are other progressive parties which have their own stars to project, but in the larger interest of the nation they should enter into an alliance to dethrone the BJP at the Centre. In the larger interest of the people, the Congress should take them into confidence. The call of the hour is to remove the BJP from power. So, all likeminded parties should be united under the powerful leadership of Rahul Gandhi. I’m sure this act of Mahagathbandhan shall be completed at the right moment.
How far is it wise as per the collective wisdom of the Congress to project Rahul Gandhi as a Prime Ministerial candidate in the event of the party coming to power?
Rahul Gandhi has struggled a lot since his youth. He has had been gathering a lot of experiences and has emerged as a matured leader. He has worked both at the State and the national levels with a rare vision and has been received with wide acclaim. You see his leadership during the 2009, 2012 and 2014 elections; and now, you may analyse his parts played in the Gujarat and Karnataka elections. His experience and aggressiveness clarifies that he can provide a strong and stable leadership to the nation and solve any issue or challenge facing the nation.
What are your views on the State’s political scenario post Niranjan Patnaik taking over as PCC chief?
Niranjan Patnaik is a senior Congress leader and is trying his utmost to take all kinds of leaders into confidence. We are all working around him having kept all our personal and ideological differences, if any, at bay. The people of the State now understand that the entire Congress rank and file stand united. Niranjan Patnaik too possesses the ability to carry seniors and juniors under one platform. I am sure Niranjan Patnaik will do his best in creating not only a convivial atmosphere in the PCC but shall lead the party to a comfortable victory in the generation elections.
In the 2019 elections, do you think the Congress will achieve a comfortable victory against the popularity of the Naveen Patnaik Government and against the Modi factor?
The Congress will form Government in Odisha. If we sustain the tempo by working in the southern, western and coastal regions, we must reach our goal unfailingly. The BJP tried its best to woo Odisha people by holding its national executive at Bhubaneswar, by celebrating its four years of power at the Centre at Cuttack and by intermittent visits of Amit Shah, but it all ended in fiasco. Their failure due to GST, demonetisation, hike in fuel prices, neglecting Odisha in the Mahanadi issue and the like have forced the Odisha people to forget the BJP. In other words, the BJP has not been accepted by the people of our State. Only, there were some development at the panchayat elections in western Odisha, but that euphoria died down after the Bijupur by- election. Now, the mood of the people is in favour of the Congress. We must form Government by winning a minimum 85 Assembly seats.
Under the BJD Government, corruptions has reached its nadir. In any tender work, big purchase or huge procurements, there is always corruption and tender-fixing. BJD agents and workers are ruling the roost everywhere and are favoured with such profitable assignments at the cost of the people by creating such outfits as “Mu Hero”, ”Biju Yuva Vahini”, Mo Gaon, “Mo Bikas” and the like. Youths are turned into slaves. These young man are not entitled to salary but are getting the money to dance to their tunes. The bureaucracy has been politicised and the responsible characters of the IAS and IPS officers have been destroyed by forcing them to lose their independent thinking. The MLAs and MPs have no role to play. They can’t offer their advice or opinion to the CM. We used to scold Bijubabu in harsh languages, but the next movement he used to embrace us; he was a great democrat. There were values of legislature during the Congress regimes and even during Bijubabu’s tenure. But during his son Naveenbabu’s regime, there is no value of MLAs and MPs. Naveenbabu has killed democracy during his 18 years of rule. When Rome was burning, Nero was playing fiddle. So, Naveenbabu is moving with his jocund company of young men and women with their heads filled with straws making them dance to his tunes, finally ending their careers as slaves before the final fall of his authoritarian BJD empire in the 2019 elections.
The grapevine is agog that both you and your son will contest in the elections. How far is it true?
I am going to contest from my own Kalahandi Parliamentary constituency. I’m not sure if my son Sagar Das will contest. If the party takes his winnability into consideration and decides in his favour and in absence of other eminently eligible candidates, he may contest. I can’t help in this regard.