One marvels at Damodar Rout’s nonstop bid for one-upmanship among Naveen Patnaik’s Cabinet members. And one also wonders how he day in and day out tries to grab media attention with his off-the-cuff remarks on any matter, be it political or otherwise. But he is particularly notorious about his allegedly disparaging comments on women. The infamous Basanti Bara episode in which he was embroiled when he was a member of the Biju Patnaik Ministry in the 1990s is still fresh in the minds of many. Rout had allegedly inappropriately touched elected woman panchayat functionary Bara’s body at a public meeting in her Kutra area in Sundargarh district that led to a furor across the State. Now, Rout’s abrasive remarks about women have not only revolted them but opposition parties and public in general. The latest was his disparaging comments against Anganwadi Workers at a BJD meeting in Jajpur. “Swamiki chhadi Anganwadi” meaning “leaving husband, going to Anganwadi” was what he said. His acerbic tongue did not stop there; he also passed indecent remarks against BJP State spokesperson lekhasree Samantsinghar. Some months ago, Rout had spoken unsavoury words against the then Congress State spokesperson Sulochana Das, who has, meanwhile, joined the BJD with the support of party supremo Naveen Patnaik.
Rout’s indefensible barbs at Anganwadi women, who were till recently on agitation over their grievances for more than a month, have also been denounced by his Ministerial colleagues, maybe at Naveen Patnaik’s instance. A chastised Rout had to come out with a video to say “sorry” to the Anganwadi Workers. At the same time, he tried to deny that his statement was intended against them and argued that it was misinterpreted, but there were no takers for his childish explanations. Interestingly, the media attention-crazy Rout this time refrained from calling the Press to “clarify” his stand obviously to avoid cross-questions.
Rout also appears to be trying to project him as a statesman like late Biju Patnaik by occasionally speaking about national politics, saying that he is “first an Indian and then an Odia”. In the latest instance, he argued for an alliance between the BJD and the Congress to fight against the “communal” BJP’s rise in the country. Talking to reporters, he even invited the “secular” Congress to give a list of their winnable Assembly seats for Naveen Patnaik’s consideration for a coalition in the 2019 elections. It was assumed that he was speaking about such a serious intra-BJD policy matter with BJD chief Patnaik’s consent. But Patnaik lost no time to clarify his party’s continuing stand of an equidistance from the Congress and the BJP.
But what intrigues political observers is Naveen Patnaik’s degree of tolerance for Rout’s contentious public statements, whether political or relating to any other issue like the comments on Anaganwdi Workers. This leads many to think that Patnaik is hesitant to take senior leaders of his party to task for their unnecessary controversial acts and utterances because he feels weak in the face of a strong challenge from the BJP ahead of the general elections. But the public perception is that Patnaik only matters in the BJD and that his action against any party leader would have no adverse effect on the party’s electoral prospects as the BJD votes are in his name and none else’s.
Bijay better quits BJP!
One feels sorry for Bijay Mohapatra. Otherwise a leader of substance, he now says he is “unwanted” in the BJP. But he discovered this fact quite late. Why the party ignores him is plain truth and one wonders he doesn’t know it! Even if he is a capable leader, every party has its scheme of things and strategies to execute it. The party high command has been clearly projecting Dharmendra Pradhan as its alternative to Naveen Patnaik in the State. If Mohapatra rates himself as abler than Pradhan and cannot work under him, he better quits the party before the party asks him to do so. Either of the two appears to be not longer.