Subhas Chandra Pattanayak
Orissa Legislative Assembly lost its second day this session under blast of black money as the Congress members blocked the proceedings demanding procedural statement from Samir De who, when a minister, had alleged that victory of BJD in Cuttack Municipal Corporation election was not a political victory of Chief Minister Navin Patnaik, but was a victory of his black money.
Another minister belonging to BJP branch of the ruling coalition like De, Golak Bihari Nayak has also raised the same allegation of black money use by the CM in influencing voters for BJD.
Though De has resigned, Nayak has not.
These two ministers, who were actively associated with electioneering in Cuttack City and Baripada Town respectively having raised this allegation against their own Chief Minister, the Opposition, specifically the Congress, finds no need of further corroboration of corruption charges against Navin.
The CM could have done better by making an honest statement. But he seems too demoralized to come up with one.
The way he involved himself with electioneering for his party candidates for the Municipal wards was blatantly unprecedented. No Chief Minister of Orissa had at any point of time personally joined campaigns for Municipal Councils. Navin’s campaign was more than aggressive. This very unusual conduct of the CM might have been propelled by his eagerness to overcome latent fear of defeat as internal fear alone gives birth to external aggressiveness.
His entire tenure as chief minister has gone barren. Born a lingua-non-Oriya he has insulted the peoples’ mother tongue by obliterating the primacy of Oriya as the official language of Orissa and by rendering Orissa’s Official Language Act inoperative. He has squandered away the land, minerals and natural resources of Orissa in favor of non-Oriya and non-Indian capitalists. He had encouraged internecine enmity amongst the sons of Oriya soil over the issue of handing over Orissa’s natural assets to non-Oriyas. The most peaceful and pleasant land Orissa has been transformed to a place of violence and anarchy where mothers are compelled to distress sell babies, farmers are compelled to distress sell paddies, girls are compelled to distress sell bodies and intellectuals are compelled to distress sell their intelligence. During his rule, every icon of Orissa’s pride, its biospheres, its mountains, its rivers, its forests, its natural storehouses of precious minerals are being sold away to non-Oriyas.
His Goebbels are busy in projecting him as creator of everything good that is happening in Orissa. But peoples know where their shoes pinch.
Navin also knows that a time will come when his Goebbels will fail. This is why he wants to win elections at any cost. This is why he himself dragged down the position of the Chief Minister to electioneering in Municipal wards. No wonder peoples believe in De and Nayak as they raise allegation of black money use by the CM to net in votes.
The matter should be thoroughly investigated into in interest of democracy.
In view of this, there is nothing unusual in Opposition demands for statutory statements over the black money use in Municipal elections by the Chief Minister. And there is no illegality in Opposition intention to move a no-confidence motion against the CM.
The Speaker’s refusal to entertain the motion of no-confidence today under the plea of paucity of time may be not incorrect on part of the Speaker; but that the second day of the session is lost to the Assembly over the blast of black money is enough to keep the face of democracy blackened for ever.