The BJD, the Congress and the BJP in Odisha have no qualms about resorting to violence when it comes to opposing one another over issues these days.
Needless to say, the three mainstream parties are in a race to grab power, now that the BJD has been in power for the last 16 years and by no means wants any rival to take over; the Congress remains power-hungry for all these years and wants to stage a comeback, while the ambitious BJP, an erstwhile ally of the BJD, slogs its guts out to wrest the seat not just to avenge the BJD for
terminating the alliance after two terms but to cash in on the anti-incumbency factor against a scam-ridden BJD.
Veritably, the Bargarh incident, in which the BJD supporters attacked the cars of two visiting Union Ministers of the BJP, has opened a can of worms. For the first time in the history of Odisha, did two Union Ministers face the wrath of the ruling regional party who smashed their cars and showed them black flags. The scene was unsavoury as it also led to a scuffle between the BJD and BJP supporters.
The BJP registered strong protest against the BJD’s ‘street fight’, while the BJD termed it as a manifestation of the pent-up anger of the local people against the Central Government.
The fight, however, did not stop there and rather escalated so much so that today the BJP is not tolerating the presence of the BJD Ministers in any part of the State and outside.
The BJP protestors are showing black flags to each BJD Ministers wherever they are visiting and the same
antagonism was also found when the saffron party men protested two visiting BJD Ministers in Mumbai. It looks the strategy of the BJD is replicated by the BJP as a means of tit-for-tat.
Though it was Congress’s lulu Mohapatra whose indoctrinated brigade set the bad precedent of attacking BJD Ministers’ cars by throwing eggs, which had for a time kept the ruling party leaders in great consternation as they feared to visit places, with BJD condemning this egg-hurling tactic with harshest terms,
the same BJD took recourse to the despicable practice when it is finding an emerging State BJP trying to outsmart it basking in the favour of the Central Government.
The Assembly has no longer been an effective forum to oppose the BJD by the BJP and Congress as it has been found repeatedly that the BJD just bypasses the ranting of the Opposition by dint of its brute majority. Most often it has been somewhat a trend for the ruling party to curtail the days of a session if it finds the Opposition to be too tough.
In such a situation, may be, the Opposition has found ‘street justice’ to be the best mode of registering protest and anger against the BJD and put it in embarrassment especially in the run-up to the rural polls due in February next year, opined experts.