Jaylalithaa is ‘goddess’ even after being convicted for graft of the worst kind. She kept stealing public money for years and yet remained one of the most adorable figures in Tamil Nadu.
Her Tamil followers got such mental jolts that some of them committed suicide like mythical characters including Belalasen who gave away life because his most revered lord Krishna desired that he die. Everything went well with the landmark ruling by the courts that took nearly two productive generations to decide that Jaya madam is a daylight robber. More than the four-year jail term, the one hundred crore-rupee fine excites the public more.
The bootlicking successor was seen taking oath as the next CM of Tamil Nadu weeping like a kid whose mom was being kidnapped before his eyes. Hopefully, Indian politicians will learn to behave better hereafter.
The Padma awards are being readied on the tables to be given away. State Governments propose best achievers to the awards committee for bagging the ‘flower’ in various forms of glory, Shri, Bhushan, Bibhushan, et cetera.
The Government of Odisha, we are told, is run by Babus, not people’s representatives. Babus mostly comprise the ‘I’m Arrogant Servant’ cadre because they have passed the toughest tests to enter the cadre.
The good IAS (I’m Always at your Service) guys are ignored for their dwindling number. The coal block scam, the ponzi company scam and, lastly, the land-grab scam have all agitated the coolest soul across India.
But the cool, reticent, hardly-involved Naveen Patnaik does not seem to bother. The elected politicians have realised too well by now that they have absolutely no ‘star power’ to attract one single vote. Naveenbabu knows too well that party members consider him indispensable in vote-gathering. No Naveen, no vote!
So, the Padma nominees will be essentially decided by the ‘know-all’ Babus. The nominees, as usual, include several suspect and unworthy persons. To name one glaring one is Dr PC Rath, who is missing from the Government records since August 12, 2005.
He availed a 3.5-acre plot of prime land in Samantapuri locality of Bhubaneswar by floating overnight a make-believe company called Asian Super-Specialty Hospital and Research Institute, which never came up, but the land was clandestinely transferred to the Apollo Hospital group on a ‘me-to-you’ mode which is criminal as per law.
He was charged only 7.5 lakh rupees an acre against the market price of a crore. It is rumoured that the Apollo group has granted him substantial amount of shares in the company. So, nominating Dr Rath would be both blasphemy and sacrilege.
Similarly, we are told anybody in high public place is being nominated blindly irrespective of the antecedents of sacrifice or economic distress due to grand public cause pursuits. Some of them have ‘bride torturing’ blots; some others don’t know why they are nominated.
A few have already got smaller Padmas and are projected as bigger achievers than before. Unworthy nominees are already busy organising fine clothes to look fabulous at the Padma ceremony. Padma or, for that matter, any national award is to be conferred on that person who has demonstrated exemplary sacrifice along with achievements. He or she has dedicated the whole life to perfecting an area of human activity which brings universal joy and glory. It is mandatory that no Padma recipient can use the Padma expression as prefix. The domain or trade for which the award is given is not pursued as a profit-making activity. And above all, the recipient is fully engaged in improving the quality of common man’s life directly or indirectly. In case, the recipient is madly engaged in moneymaking activities by using the Padma title, the award is to be withdrawn instantly with a public declaration that the person ceases to be worthy of the decoration. The people must keep watch over what is happening about the Padma nomination by the Government, nay the omniscient Babus.
The BJD has become overpoweringly known across the masses, who imagine that Naveenbabu, due to his single status, is the cleanest of all human mortals and no crook or erring official can survive under his glare. As rightly pointed out by numerous intellectuals that the world in Odisha is cloyingly Biju-ridden, people must now resist naming everything and every project after Biju. It is painfully jarring! Madhu, Nabakrushna, Mahtab, Bagha Jatin, Chandan Hajuri, Baji Rout, Gangadhar Meher, Upendra Bhanj et al are virtually forgotten. No young person below 25 can figure out who these Odias are. Bijubabu was a great guy in a way, but not so colossal as to pervade all public domains as lord Jagannath. Besides, the BJD leaders and followers alike are chanting Biju hymns, no matter what the context.
Prafulla Ghadai, the other dangerously affluent politician of Odisha and touted as a formidable political force even for Pyari when the latter held all the reins of administration, has been dropped as hot brick. His son, strangely, keeps singing songs of praise for Naveen. It is absolutely true that all parent-child political duos are horrible and must be discarded by the public.
As it seems today, the BJD will win the Kandhamal lok Sabha by-election for the simplest reason that the party candidate has both the sympathy tag and glamour. Rudra Madhab of the BJP has neither. The BJP has probably committed a grave blunder.
The Students’ Union elections across college and university campuses have been a horrific source of degeneration of the young people in Odisha. The local self-governance systems, one must recall, too were unwittingly spoilt by Bijubabu, who permitted party affiliation with symbols in election battles. That brought to end the good-hearted neighbourhood guy being able to enter public service ever again. Students are being methodically spoilt by political parties. More the party money, bigger the social damage by way of misguiding the youth to all sins of life. The BJD, instead of amending Bijubabu’s populist blunder, has indulged in the sinful activity more aggressively without compunction.
lastly, the ponzi scheme scam, rocking the State for quite some time, needs some attention mainly for effecting a great deal of dramatic twists and turns. The Advocate General was asked to step down just before 24 hours of being nabbed by the CBI. He is implicated in a ‘dirty property grab’ which he denies forcefully. The CBI was particularly ruthless in picking him like a most despicable street criminal. Believably, he is wronged and used as a pawn to cover up a much bigger conspiracy. The CBI is unfazed saying it has stirred the hornet’s nest knowing well the eventual outcome. It has done its homework well and is prepared to stand public scrutiny of any kind. The lawyer community rose in solidarity behind the State’s former principal lawyer as it ceased work and agitated against the CBI action. The people are utterly confused. Strangest stories are being heard from both the ends. Time will prove who is right. Until then, the drama will keep Odias excited with unusual anxiety like a Pakistan-India limited over cricket match.
It now appears that the ordinary Odia is beginning to suspect the BJD administration of sinister designs to flourish beyond belief. Mere survival is not an issue with them.
All said and done, the ultimate cock-n-bull story is that Pyaribabu has been persuaded by a Biju family member to ‘forgive and forget’ and make a comeback to reset the house in order. That could only be a very laughable fairytale!
(The writer is a core member of Transparency International, Odisha)