It is foolish to expect admission of guilt by a guilty suo motto. In the same vein, no political party would agree that the chit fund fraud occurred in the State by active political patronage.
There is, therefore, no wonder that none of the leaders in the State dares to call a spade a spade even as an MlA, an MP and a former MlA of the ruling BJD, besides one former MlA from the BJP, have been arrested for their alleged link with the chit fund firms who duped the innocent but unduly avaricious investors of thousands of crores of rupees. A BJD spokespersons and MlA the other day was never ready to accept that senior leader and Banki MlA Pravat Tripathy arrested in his alleged link with AT Group chief Pradeep Sethy is really an offender.
In a programme in a private TV channel he was very uncomfortably accepting the fact that a party strongman had been arrested due to chit fund linkage and till the last he kept sticking to his stand that until Tripathy’s offence was proved, he should be seen as clean. That is right only from legal point of view, but can the gentleman deny that there could be no smoke without fireIJ
The readers might remember that it was Tripathy who had been claiming that he was innocent even when arrested and dragged to court. Similar were the versions of BJD MP Ramchandra Hansdah, former BJD MlA Subarna Naik and former BJP MlA Hitesh Kumar Bagartti. They claimed that they had been fixed and all that was being done was part of a ‘bigger conspiracy’. Hansdah even went hammer and tongs against the CBI.
Tripathy’s supporters also held siege to the CBI office at Bhubaneswar and created disturbances at a court proceeding. More than anyone else, it was Cuttack BJD MP Bhartuhari Mahtab who invited much criticism for supporting former AG Ashok Mohanty arrested for owning a house at Cuttack from AT Group and subsequently the Banki MlA. In both the cases, he rather accused the CBI of creating a scene and trying to be in headline by making sensational arrests every day.
Known as a rather prudent and clean man, the reason best known to him why he was sympathetic towards Mohanty and Tripathy and critical of the steps taken by the CBI. In the Tripathy case he, however, was so upset that he even did not spare party supremo Naveen Patnaik by saying that the latter’s decision to sack Tripathy was ‘unjustified’.
He stirred a hornet’s nest by his observation on the suspension of the tainted MlA though later he made amends and said he was one with the party boss and that Tripathy’s case could have been considered on ‘humanitarian’ ground. It is not known what could have been BJD’s stand had Patnaik taken Tripathy’s case on humanitarian ground. Did Mahtab seek to say that the party could wait till Tripathy’s innocence provedIJ Supposing the party had done it, it could amount to setting a pattern of sparing and siding with the accused and arrested and many who are on the list of the CBI and likely to be arrested in times to come could escape the baton of the party boss. By suspending Tripathy, Patnaik has rather taken a judicious step and the very act has rather enhanced his image as well as that of the party.
Political link in the chit fund scam is a foregone conclusion. Given the penetration of the scam, it is now hard to disbelieve that the scamsters were doing everything on their own and that party in the power was totally in dark about the wrongdoings. Many chit fund firms not only swindled the people but controlled the market by their investment in various sectors. The realty sector for example could not flourish but for the massive pumping of the chit fund money into the sale and purchase of plot, flat and house in major cities of the State. The land cost touched the sky due to money glut in land and housing scheme by many real estate firms.
The costs have skyrocketed so much so that now it is not possible for a common man to own a plot in an urban centre, let alone in Bhubaneswar and other major cities. Similarly, the chit fund money was invested in media, film, consumer durables and education etc. This no doubt gave a push to the lifestyle of the people, but on the other hand, it was ruining tens of thousands of poor investors who wanted to be rich overnight.
Political leaders by remaining the directors of the chit fund firms, attending their functions and scheme launching ceremonies as guests, receiving money, costly gifts, land and plot etc promoted these firms. Since they are people’s representatives, their promotional words were enough to win the faith of the common people. This helped the chit fund firms thrive and make money by false propagandas. Much agonizing is allowing chit fund firms to be partners of the Government in execution of manifold schemes in the State. The AT, Seashore, Navadiganta and several others which signed pacts with various Government departments to execute many important projects made them win the confidence of the public.