BJP is no less a danger to Orissa than BJD

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

The ruling BJD led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has pushed Orissa into deplorable debacle in every respect. When mindless mining has denuded the splendid land of its precious metals oblivious of the needs of the future generations, the State that had taken shape after long 66 years of revolt against British colonialists’ wrongful clubbing of Oriya speaking areas in the neighbourhood provinces belonging to rival tongues, is now facing severe threats to its geographical limits from the same neighbourhood provinces. Naveen is so very anti-Oriya, like his father, in his attitude that, he has not only been contravening the Orissa Official Language Act, 1954 everyday during his tenure, but also has pushed the Act into atrophy by using fraudulence in its amendments. But, BJP is also no less a danger to Orissa. 

When in the early 1980s, people of Orissa, particularly of Sambalpur, had raised high pitched protests against price-rise, it was BJP under leadership of Vajpayee and Advani that had contrived a bogy of  victimisation of Marwaris by the Oriyas in order to compel the CM to take action against whosoever was leading the campaign against hoarding, black-marketing, price rise. As many as 14 students of Burla were brutally killed, as they were the pioneer of protest against price-rise.

It was BJP government in the Centre that had created the new State of Chhatishgarh without any consultation with Orissa, knowing pretty well that, Mahanadi, the life-line of Orissa, emanates from Chhatishgarh. Any industrial use of Mahanadi in Chhatishgarh was bound to affect Orissa very adversely and hence, before creation of Chhatishgarh, the Vajpayee Government should have consulted Orissa in the matter of Mahanadi. It deliberately didn’t. Resultantly, Orissa is in severe disadvantage.

The seed of separatism was sown by BJP in the western part of Orissa with a motive to catch votes in elections. 

Naturally, BJP has no commanding credibility in Orissa. Credibility of BJD is also conspicuous by its absence, Both the parties know this and therefore, their leaders, privy to the intelligence reports on their declining respective credibility, are trying to form an electoral alliance in the State. But their files do not support the idea of alliance, as contest would bring them bonanza of income from electioneering.   

Against this discernible reality, my live message to my friends in Facebook, is reposted in YouTube for my esteemed readers here.