With the Brahma transfer fiasco becoming a trigger point for major political agitation in 2015, the 2013 crescendo of political agitations that subsided in 2014 following BJD's electoral triumph seems back on track. This looks more certain from a resolve of both major Opposition parties - BJP and Congress - to hit the agitation path to keep issues boiling for the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD Government.
As per State Home Department data, Odisha in 2013 witnessed the highest-ever number of political agitations in over a decade. With over 1,400 agitations in 2013, Odisha made it to the top among States having most political conflagrations. However, the same data termed year 2014 relatively peaceful with such agitations shrinking to around 500-700, which it attributed to being an election year in Odisha (General to UlB elections) when parties are busy in workers meetings. In 2015, though Congress party did 'egg' up its pitch, the BJD's 'divinely' gaffe seemingly has rolled red carpet to monsoon of political agitations.
The Congress party grabbed moment for a full display of its only recently choreographed revival strategy, which is anchored by Rahul Gandhi with aggressively targeting of PM Narendra Modi at the Centre, for those States where it is out-of-power for long but has strong base like Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.
The directive is to aggressively hit streets and launch a no-holds-barred attack inside Assembly akin to Rahul style in Parliament. The Congress bandh call (with Shubankar Sarkar's active participation) and leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra's taunt at the Government on every slightest opportunity including recent frontal attack at State Disaster Mitigation meeting is part and parcel of that grand Congress design. like 'suit-boot-ki-sarkar' jab, AICC headquarters after collating inputs from above States would soon dish out 'State-specific jabs' to catch the popular imagination quite aggressively, revealed a senior AICC spokesperson who was in city recently. There is a buzz Rahul would give a head-start once full-plan gets ready.
OPCC president Prasad Harichandan thundered, "Party has blown the bugle. We will take the cudgels at panchayat-level for marginal farmers, tribals, women and unemployed, whose rights BJD Government is trampling on. Party will force the Government to be accountable both inside and outside the Assembly," he said, indicating the future agenda of the Congress.
Similarly, State BJP in-charge Arun Singh recently in city gave a clarion call to party men for launching aggressive agitations to 'expose' BJD 'misrule'. Party anointed veteran Bijay Mohapatra to launch meticulous broadsides at the BJD. Sniffing the moment, BJP deliberately put forth its soft skill - Rath Yatra - all in the lord's name to shore up its thin rural, semi-urban base before panchayat elections as its missed-call membership drive only endeared to sloth mobile-driven generation evidenced by heavy losses in Ranapur NAC elections. No blanket bandh call by the BJP was to cloak its organizational weaknesses. Unlike the Congress, no high-profile Central headers to BJP's agitation now as their stakes lie high on Central Government agenda.