Subhas Chandra Pattanayak
I have covered some constituencies in different parts of the State.
I must state that it may be better to watch what professional psephologists would say; but I may say on the strength of my long experience in reading the pulse of people in times of the polls, that, undercurrent of discontent with and wrath against Naveen Patnaik is so strong that only a miracle can give him the number he would need to form a new government.
Though to whom the people shall prefer is not yet defined, the mandate I smell makes me shudder, as I recall the words of Kula Gourav Madhusudan Das.
When Oriya movement for resurrection of Orissa was in its peak, fellows like Harekrushna Mahtab were trying to demoralize Madhubabu in order to please some of the Congress top brass who were opposed to creation of Orissa as a separate province by re-uniting the Oriya speaking tracks.
Till Gandhiji’s clear and strong support to creation of Orissa on the basis of language of the people, the Indian National Congress was reluctant to support the Oriya Movement, as its heavyweights from provinces to which the British – afraid of Oriya “disposition” – had tagged divided parts of Orissa, were reluctant to part with the rich Oriya lands their respective States were exploiting.
Highly ambitious Mahtab had tried to embarrass Madhubabu, the highest leader of the movement, to please these non-Oriya, in fact anti-Oriya – leaders of the Congress.
Orissa was stunned when he had tried to shatter a meeting that Madhubabu was to address .
Madhubabu was aware of such sycophancy and therefore, had written, “TU MANE BHABICHHU TOSAMADA KARI BADHAIBU JATI MANA / TOSAMADIARA KUKURA PRAKRUTI AINTHA PATARE DHYANA” ( You think, through sycophancy, you can enhance the national mana. But be sure, by nature, a sycophant is a dog that stays content with orts and offals).
If Naveen Patnaik heads a party of sycophants, Congress is the trendsetter. And, BJP that already has bared its real body under waves of Har Har Modi, is no less a party of sycophants too. Whither our democracy is wandering?
Madhubabu had wondered, “SHAGUNA BILUA BAIDA SAJILE RAHIBA KI ROGI PRANA?” (Can a patient live, if vultures and foxes become the doctors?)
The mandate I smell confronts me with this question.
What should be the answer?
2 comments » Write a comment