Orissa Matters

It would be an insult to patriotism if Biju’s Dakota is preserved in Orissa Museum

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

BJD member in Orissa Legislative Assembly Debashish Nayak has made a demand in the House that the parked and abandoned Dakota airplane of Biju Patnaik’s Kalinga Airlines be brought from Kolkata airpost and be preserved in the State Museum at Bhubaneswar. Sycophancy knows no bound. But it will be the worst insult to patriotism if his demand is fulfilled.

I explain, why.

A major reason of more than eleven thousand square kilometers of our soil being lost in the Chinese aggression was because of Biju Patnaik’s treachery against the country executed through his Kalinga Airlines.

On October 20, 1962, China had attacked India. We had to suffer the most ignominious defeat in Chinese hands, because there was a man Biju Patnaik in the near circle of Prime Minister Nehru eager to make huge income by sabotaging the country.

Brig. John Delvi in his book ‘Himalayan Blunder’ has pointed out that India lost more than 11000 square kilometers of her land to China in the 1962 war because of lack of basic essentials like warm clothing, snow boots, and glasses.

Biju Patnaik had fetched the contract to airdrop these essential supplies to our soldiers in the NEFA front. But, instead of delivering the same to our soldiers, he had sold away those supplies in black-markets (Lok Sabha Debates (V) (1967) 7980-7990).

Because of this treason, our soldiers had lost their stamina to fight and we were in the worst of debacles after our independence.

This particular debate was generated in the environment of availability of Lt. General B. M. Kaul’s accounts on our war debacle in his book ‘The Untold Story’’.

In this book, General Kaul, who was in command, had attributed the defeat partly to inadequate supply of essential necessities too.

Nehru’s then blue-eyed boy Biju had cultivated the contract for delivering the supply of essential necessities to our fighting soldiers in the NEFA front through his Kalinga Airlines. But, instead of delivering the supply to the soldiers, he had sold them in the black-market at Calcutta, at Dibrugarh, at Jorhat and other places.

In the Lok Sabha debate mentioned above, when Hem Barua had rued over this, S. M. Banerjee had pointed out that when in the snow-clad battlefield on the border our soldiers were in dire need of basic essentials like warm clothing, and some of the countries like West Germany had rushed profuse amount of top quality woolens like blankets, pullovers, shocks and snow-shoes etc for use of our fighting forces, the same never reached them, as the rich people grabbed them for their own comfort through the black-market fed by Kalinga Airways of Biju Patnaik.
Despite having sold the essential defense supplies in the black-market, Biju had bagged Rs. 1, 78, 33, 416.00 from the exchequer towards charges of their delivery in the border (Prime Minister Nehru’s reply to Surendranath Dwivedi in the Lok Sabha on 25 January 1963)

Biju had committed many offenses against the country even before the Chinese attack. One of these offenses was unauthorized use of an aircraft of his company- known to defense intelligence as a plane under contract with their department – on 26 October 1959 in secret service of a group of unidentified persons that had traveled to and fro between Calcutta and Bombay.

Questionable conduct of Biju’s airways, specifically as the defense of the country was involved, was inquired into through a committee headed by Katju. The findings of this Committee were devastating. But, lest Nehru’s fault in relying upon Biju also gets exposed, his government claimed privilege over the report and denied even the MPs to go through it, though the Lok Sabha was fed with a vetted synopsis thereof after a lot of ruckus.

Biju was the first mafia to have entered politics and polluted politics for personal aggrandizement. Nehru had made shameful contributions to this.

So, despite confession that the Katju Committee had found massive irregularities committed by Kalinga airways, the government was not to terminate the contract with him, as a result of which, the defense supplies did not reach the soldiers in the battle field, but fetched profit for Biju from the black-market in places like Calcutta, Dibrugarh and Jorhat.

The then Minister of State (Home)Vidya Charan Shukla had told Atal Behari Vajpayee in reply to his star question bearing No. 785 on 28 June 1962, that the Public Accounts Committee had found many specific illegalities and forgeries, which the Kalinga Airways of Biju Patnaik had committed. By blackmailing Nehru, Biju escaped prosecution.

The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament had found that during the war, Kalinga Airways had at least 1600 unauthorized flights over the war zone. This was a serious offense. The country had neither authorized nor had funded these 1600 flights over the border where the war was going on, in the most sensitive time. As the PAC mentioned of this matter, and it was clear that the government had to investigate into it, the number of these suspicious and unauthorized flights was tampered with and in place of 1600, the figure was projected as 200. When Mr. G. G. Swell queried on who tampered with the figure of the unauthorized flights, Minister Shukla had declared, that the committee investigating into the specific offenses of Kalinga Airlines, would also look into this mischief.

But, Biju escaped, because any action against him could also have brought to limelight the wrongful patronization Nehru had given to him oblivious of harms that was causing to the country.

The whereabouts of Kalinga Airlines was not kept track of. The loss that the nation suffered because of Biju Patnaik’s treachery was not determined. The pilots of the airways without whose collaboration Biju could not have committed the illegalities were never interrogated, when Kalingalines aircrafts crashed one after one, the last reported being a Douglas C-47A on October 17, 1965 with 8 fatalities that had extinguished the entire crew whom the nation should have interrogated to know the truth.

If anything, Biju deserves posthumous punishment for treachery against the country. Why the debates in parliament, exposures in Katju Committee as well as PAC reports were rendered inconsequential should be investigated into by a competent Judicial Commission of Enquiry, as greater interest of the country calls for that.

Therefore, it would be a great insult to Orissa and to the patriotic sense of the people of Orissa, if the sycophantic demand of the BJD member in the State Assembly is heeded to.

There is no RBT in Orissa: Zoo Director ought to use the correct term 'Mahabala Bagha'

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak White tigress Sheha has given birth to four cubs in Nandankanan zoo on July 28. But the zoo director Sudarsan Panda has repeated the wrong in speculating how many of them are of ‘Royal Bengal Tiger’ (RBT) group. Sheer nonsense. The cubs are born in Orissa’s Nandankanan zoo to Orissa’s tiger Manish and tigress Sneha. How to the zoo director any of them is a RBT? It seems, the zoo director is reluctant to claim Orissa’s tiger as Orissa’s tiger. He is unable to come out of his cocoon of copying the non-Oriya terms when Oriya terms are available. Orissa is the home of the category of tigers known in Oriya language as Mahabala Bagha. There are three popular types of Bagha in Orissa. They are: Mahabala, Kalarapataria and Baghendra. In my childhood days, in my birthplace Tigiria and adjoining princely states like Baramba, Narasinghpur, Hindol, Dhenkanal and Athgarh, there was a tiger of small size called Baghendra, which perhaps is now extinct. Kalarapataria is a sort of leopard with synonyms like Kendua and Tindua. The Mahabala is the largest kind of tiger that has profuse mention in ancient literature and scriptures of Orissa. As Buddha is by birth an Oriya, our ancestors had projected him even as Mahabala. Mahabala is referred as a Buddhist deity. The word ‘Maha’ – the greatest – is a peculiar word of assertion of Oriya mana. As for example, Orissa’s great river is named ‘Mahanadi’ (Maha+Nadi). The food coming to devotees after being offered to Sri Jagannatha Buddha is ‘Mahaprasada’ (Maha+Prasada). The sea at Puri, the seat of Jagannatha, is ‘Mahodadhi’ (Maha+Udadhi). Similarly the great tiger of Orissa, bearer of Maha Shakti (Immense strength) is Mahabala in Oriya language. Therefore, the greatest son of Orissa for all time to come, Buddha, who is being worshiped as Jagannatha, is also known and presented and worshipped as ‘Mahabala Buddha’, his illuminating body evolving from the body of the Mahabala bagha. It is sad that, Oriya officers like the zoo director, are not projecting the great tiger of Orissa by its original name – Mahabala Bagha. They fear, lest the international community fails to understand the word. They are wrong. Even in England, what the Orissa zoo director wrongfully holds as RBT, is known as Mahabala. Mark the tiger toy with ‘I Love Mahabala’ T-shirt. It is so popular in U.K. and U.S.A. Children and adults there understand that Mahabala is a tiger. I fail to understand, why the zoo director is averse to call Orissa’s tiger as Mahabala bagha? And, a shame, he projects the Mahabala cubs of Orissa in the name of RBT! RBT is a confused English term which was created after the low paid servants of East India Company had occupied a weak Bengal, and had used the word ‘royal’ to self-assign them a blue blood tag. To keep this mischief alive till date may be no affront to Bengal, but is certainly an affront to Orissa, the ancient soil of patriotic pride that was the last land to be annexed by the British in India and the first land to rise in revolt for emancipation, as admitted even by the British historian G.Toynbee in the following words: “It was not long, however, before we had to encounter a storm which burst with so sudden fury as to threaten our expulsion…” (A sketch of the history of Orissa). So, on this soil of patriotic pride, Oriya officers like the zoo director, ought to practice how to project the great tiger of Orissa as Mahabala bagha. Let it be called RBT in any state; in Orissa it needs be called in its Oriya name – Mahabala Bagha – a name that carries Oriya mana and the great Oriya Buddhist and literary heritage.

If there be no State terror there may be no terrorist

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

In reaction to a posting captioned ‘Sabyasachi Panda: crime under colonial definition is no crime per se’ published in these pages on July 26, a reader Arun Kumar Upadhyaya has hurled a comment with obnoxious and defamatory words. As these pages are not to spread nasty reactions in filthy languages, Upadhyaya’s comment is discarded.

For him and any reader of his ilk, it would be better to be warned that these pages are not designed to be used for the pleasure of the rightist rats or for capitalist snakes for spewing out venom of religious revivalism, fascism, fanaticism, atavism, caste/religion supremacism and any suchlike nuisance.

This site is dedicated to the voiceless people, not to violence. We want to reach the root of violence to explore how the society could be free of violence. We oppose violence that breeds violence and our endeavor to see how violence is not generated is caused by our concern for our present and future generations, which gets expression in these pages.

So, readers are welcome to react to any posting in these pages without violating their composure and strictly in a way that would be considered congenial to the working class, whose interest this site is addressed to.

To this site, terrorists are not the original cause of terror.

The word ‘terrorist’ evolved from the French word ‘terooriste’ used by king of France and his tyrant team against the leadership of the French Revolution. The said revolution was aimed at ending the autocratic rule of the king and to usher in democracy and equality. So, obviously, by origin and practice, ‘terrorist’ is a word that was and is being used against the revolutionaries by the very same fellows who violate the people’s right to live happily and use the State to terrorize the people.

Had there been no State terror, there may not be any terrorist.

Sabyasachi Panda: crime under colonial definition is no crime per se

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Reacting on my posting of July 24, captioned ‘Mili Panda hopes situation shall not be created for creation of many Sabyasachis’, a very dear and close relation of mine, Sriman Hari Prasad Patnaik has postedhis views in social media Face Book. I quote the relevant portion: “………….every criminal’s kith and kin will always vouch for the criminal’s innocence and his/her pious and oh so clean way of life. That is a natural reaction. So I doubt whether we should take Mili Panda’s statement to be the gospel truth”.

Even as I appreciate these words, which, to me, are born out of Hari Prasad’s aversion to violence, I would like to say, revolutionaries like Sabyasachi Panda cannot be termed as criminals. There are many discussions going on, specifically by the elites, in the media, wherein Sabyasachi is being projected as a criminal. Certain activities attributed to him by the police connotes to crime as defined in the IPC that the British had promulgated to suppress Indian voices against exploitation. But there is reason to differ with what the IPC has defined as crime.

Be it appreciated that every crime is an outcome of a crime that generates a cause for the crime. As criminology holds it, no activity that looks like a crime is a crime, if criminal intention is not present.

So, every crime is not to be treated as one.

There is vast difference between crime that gives birth to consequential crime and crime that takes place consequent upon a crime.

Difference between crime and crime

Thus crime is not similar on all occasions. This dissimilarity makes crime viewed differently. And this difference is based on two different basic patterns: Generating Crime that gives birth to a consequential crime and Generated Crime, which is the product of a crime that generates situation for its perpetration. Therefore, crimes are of two distinctly different patterns.

Crime with criminal intention belongs to the first pattern and consequential crime belongs to the second pattern.

For example, when a trader hoards essential commodities, he does it with criminal intention to fetch more profit in the black market. So, hoarding is a crime of the first pattern.

Watching the plight of consumers, a conscious person intervenes and asks the hoarder to release the commodities, which is not heeded to by the hoarder, who continues increasing his personal wealth with massive profit from the black market with the state machinery in his pocket. Time comes, when the protester deems it proper to get the society rid of the hoarder in a way matching the armed protection given to him by his Patron State. Here his action, in terms of IPC, may be defined as a crime; but in reality, there is no criminal intention behind this crime. This crime is of the second pattern.

Violent action of a person affected by black market, against the hoarder may look like a crime under the colonial definition of crime, but in reality, it is consequential to the crime perpetrated by the hoarder under protection of the State, which fellows of his like control. Thus, hoarding is the Generating Crime and consequential protests against hoarding, even if that causes bloodshed, are Generated Crime.

Sabyasachi Panda’s crime, if any, is Generated Crime, not Generating Crime. So, he is not a criminal.

Moreover his action, even if violent, is no crime with criminal intention against the society.

Had there been no State-terror, had the State not stood with the exploiters, I believe, highly gifted persons like Sabysachi Panda, entirely dedicated to the cause of the toiling masses, would never have chosen the violent path.

Kalinga Nagar Massacre

To understand the difference between Generating Crime and Generated Crime in a better way, conduct of Tata industry in Kalinga Nagar and revolt of tribal people of the locality vis-à-vis the bloody role the State played in support of Tata on January 2, 2006 may be of guiding help.

Look at any industry, the same scenario will speak aloud about how protesters against exploitation and destruction of their living environment are being branded as criminals by the police state, even though their actions are mere reactions to Generating Crime that the wealthy class perpetrates.

Shikara of Bhagabati Panigrahi

Crux of this phenomenon was most ably dealt with in the epoch making story ‘Shikara’ of Bhagabati Panigrahi , father of progressive literature in Orissa. I would like to transform an excerpt from this story to first person narration while roughly translating the same into English.

The hero of the story is Ghinua, an innocent forest dweller, who, tortured by a wealthy man namely Gobind Sardar, had beheaded him sans any qualms. He had narrated the reason of his action in his deposition in the court. And, the court had given him death sentence for the crime of murder. Till execution of the death sentence, he had not known the meaning of murder.

Please mark, what he had told the court, which, as I have already said, I am converting here into first person dialogue from Bhagabati’s narration for better understanding.

He had said to the Court, “I had to overcome a lot of difficulties in cutting off Gobind Sardar’s head. Many more persons were trying to kill him, but none of them had succeeded, as Gobind Sardar was always moving in a motor vehicle. He had accumulated wealth by looting everybody. He was personification of a great Satan. One cannot describe how many persons he had killed, how many persons he had ruined, how many women he had raped. He had taken away my landed properties in similar sinister manner. That evening he had even attempted to rape my wife. How dared he! He was fleeing in the motor vehicle on seeing me. He was trying to escape. I immobilized his vehicle by shooting my arrow to its tire. Then I chopped off his head and sped up to the Deputy Commissioner’s bungalow covering 30 miles through the dense forest in the night (with the full confidence that I will be rewarded sumptuously for having killed a man more dreaded than a tiger)”.

Photo copy of the paragraph from the printed story ‘Shikara’ is given below.

Every reader of this epoch making story knows that, Ghinua had rushed to the Deputy Commissioner in hope of larger amount of reward than what he had received on previous occasions on killing Mahabala Bagha (Orissa’s tiger of massive strength) as to him, Gobinda Sardar was more savage than the tigers he had earlier killed. Instead of rewarding him for killing a man more sinister and menacing than a Mahabala Bagha, the British law had found him guilty of homicide and had given him death sentence for the crime.

Is there anybody in the world who really holds Ghinua a criminal? No, never.

He was totally innocent. His action was not a crime, but just a reaction to the unbearable crimes perpetrated by wealth accumulator and debauch – the real criminal, whom administration had never prosecuted – Gobinda Sardar.

Therefore, he is, and will remain forever the trendsetter of active action against exploitation and foul play of the criminals in power.

To sane minds, Ghinua is not a criminal, because what the law of the tyrant State defines as his crime, was nothing but a reaction to the heinous crimes the wealthy man Gobinda Sardar was in habit of perpetrating with the administrative machinery in his pocket.

Sabyasachi Panda and suchlike users of weapons against Gobinda Sardars of today are nothing but Ghinuas in modern forms, whose commitment to the cause of the helpless poor and voiceless toiling human beings has landed them in the labyrinth of the colonial law where the elite class is branding them as criminals.

Beyond the limits of this colonial Law and in the realm of romance of sacrifice and suffering for the poor, helpless, and voiceless brethren, they are the beacon lights that shall never fade.

So, what Ms. Mili Panda has told of her husband, cannot be in limine rejected. The colonial definition of crime needs be amended, as most of what gets projected as crime is no crime per se.

Mili Panda hopes situation shall not be created for creation of many Sabyasachis

It is wrong to say, with arrest of Sabyasachi Panda Maoism gets extinguished in Orissa, said Ms. Mili Panda, wife of the co-founder of Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist) Sabysachi Panda, presently facing police interrogation, having been remanded to police custody after his arrest on July 18.

Participating in a local TV channel interview, she said this evening that, her husband’s revolutionary sacrifices will not be allowed to be tarnished by cooked up allegations. His path is a radical political path adopted out of love and concern for the people, who are imperiled by misgovernance and governmental apathy. As far as she knows him, she has reason to believe that he is being implicated for offenses he has not committed, she said.

Refusing to be sidetracked over alleged recovery of gold from his possession, Ms. Panda termed the allegation irresponsible. It is sad that a man who lives only with a pair of dresses, and has knowingly endangered his own life in pursuing a dream for emancipation of the poor toiling masses, is being subjected to concocted innuendos. “Gold possession and Sabyasachi Panda are poles apart and as his wife, I vouch for that”, she said.

Ms. Panda is known for her eagerness to see her husband in mainstream politics. She expressed happiness over her husband’s arrest, because therewith prospects for him shunning acrimonious radicalism and joining the mainstream may open up.

His radicalism being born out of total compassion for the voiceless poor, the State should treat him with sympathy and regard a revolutionary deserves, as otherwise, the situation shall give birth to many Sabyasachis, she warned.