Appeal by Civil Society Groups to National Political Leaders not to
accept Invitation of Dr. Damodar Rout to address Centenary Celebration of Birth
Day of Biju Patnaik, former Chief Minister, Odisha
Civil Society Groups working for betterment of
Odisha have made passionate appeal to the Political leaders of national
repute to turn down the invitation of
Dr. Damodar Rout, Vice-President of Biju Janata Dal and Minister for Cooperation and Excise for
the function organised to celebrate birth centenary of Biju Patnaik at Paradeep on 5th
March.
In a letter dated 24.2.16 addressed
to Sri Mulayam Singh Yadav,
President, Samajvadi Party, Ms. Mamata Banerjee, Hon’ble Chief Minister West
Bengal, Kolkata, Sri Lalu Prasad Yadav, President Rashtriya Janata Dal, Sri
Nitish Kumar, Hon’ble Chief Minister, Bihar , Sri Sarad Yadav, President Janata
Dal ( United ), the members of Civil Society Groups have brought to the notice of these
leaders that Dr. Damodar Rout, Minister for Cooperation
and Excise, Govt. of Odisha and Vice-president of Biju Janata Dal has made a
press statement about his invitation to you to address the public meeting to be
organised on coming 5th March at Paradeep to celebrate the birth
centenary of Biju Patnaik, a well known political leader and former Chief
Minister, Odisha. This programme is being organised under the banner of Biju
Memorial Trust. This invitation has already triggered off a political storm in
Biju Janata Dal with the party spokespersons coming down heavily on Dr. Damodar
Rout for having announced it without the knowledge of the party. These leaders
have also made it clear through their press statements that their party Biju
Janata Dal is in no way related with this programme and it happens to be the
personal agenda of Dr. Rout himself. Strangely enough, while the party is
passing through such a serious inner-party feud between its rival factions to
the bewilderment of the public at large, Sri Nabin Patnaik, Chief Minister,
Odisha has been maintaining an ominous silence about all this, confounding
thereby the confusion already created.
The letter has also enlightened the leaders
that Sri Nabin Patnaik as Chief
Minister during the last 16 years of his rule, has been infamously embroiled in
a number of mega scams involving his office and portfolios. In the Chit Fund
scam, Rs. 40,000 crore has been allegedly looted by the Chit Fund Companies
promoted by his Govt. Itself. In the land
scam in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack as much as about Rs. 1, 00,000 crore worth of
prime urban land has been grabbed by the corrupt biggies like Ministers, MLAs,
IAS and IPS officers and also the owners of Private Hotels and Educational Institutions having dubious
records such as KIIT. Each of these land grabbers could succeed in amassing
multiple plots in the twin cities using the name of their spouse and relatives,
thanks to their unholy league with the corrupt officials and that too in
connivance with the office of Chief Minister. The notorious mining scam that
cost the State exchequer a staggering amount of Rs. 60,000 crores scam, as is
well known, was masterminded by the mining mafia in active collaboration with
the corrupt officials and some leaders of Biju Janata Dal.
Though the Shah Commission had recommended for a CBI
Inquiry into the mining scam, the BJP-led NDA Govt. has not taken yet any
worthwhile step in this direction. As a matter of fact, Sri Nabin Patnaik has
been able to bargain out the national level BJP leaders not to go for CBI
inquiry, by way of a cunning show-off of strength of 30 MPs in parliament,
which is a significant factor for the BJP-led NDA Government for passage of any
Bill in the Parliament. Sri Nabin Patnaik has also been able to influence the
BJP led Govt. at the Centre to slow down the ongoing CBI investigation into the
Chit Fund case. This behind-the-scene bonhomie has been evident from the visit
of Sri Amit Shah, President of BJP and Sri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister to the
State of Odisha on dt. 21.2.16 who never
uttered a single word against the State Govt or Chief Minister Nabin Patnaik.
On a number of occasions in the Parliament this opportunistic and tacit
alliance between the BJP and BJD has led to handing out of unconditional
support by the BJD to the BJP in the matter of the legislative enactments. In
turn, Sri Nabin Patnaik Government could muster the unstinted support of BJP in
the legislative and administrative matters for protection of his Government
from the attack by the opposition. Further, as BJP has a strong nexus with
corrupt corporate mafias, it has also managed to build good equation with Sri
Nabin Patnaik simply to protect the interests of the corporate sector. Besides,
BJD’s criticism against BJP or Central Govt. on Polavaram issue or Central
negligence is just eyewash, meant to confuse the public.
As the unholy alliance of BJD-BJP gets exposed in
public and the people of Odisha having secular values are getting sensitised
about BJD’s nexus with BJP, Sri Nabin Patnaik is trying hard to recover from
this tangle. Sri Patnaik as a part of
his image building exercise has set Dr. Damodar Rout to invite you to join in
the celebration of birth centenary of Biju Patnaik. His sole motive behind all
this is to show off to the public that that he enjoys close rapport with the
leaders of different political parties at national level. Thereby he too aims
at acquiring a stronger position in his bargain with BJP and hopes that the BJP
led Central Govt. would also be cautious enough in taking any step towards
destabilization of BJD Govt from power.
On a close analysis we do feel that Dr. Damodar Rout’s
invitation to the leaders of national
parties or regional political parties is
nothing but an exercise
to strengthen bargaining power of
Nabin Patnaik vis-a-vis BJP and
simultaneously to white-wash his image
that has been tarnished due to the multiple scams.
The Letter has requested these leaders not to
entertain any illusion about the Chief Minister Sri Nabin Patnaik whose misrule
has destroyed Odisha, reducing the state into the poorest one in the country,
where 88% of the rural poor live below poverty line. Besides, he has cunningly
emasculated all the constitutional and quasi-judicial bodies in the State, and
thereby made a mockery of them. Ever since he assumed power, he has been guided
by a coterie of mischievous bureaucrats and politicians, who do not have an
iota of sympathy for the poor or and regard for the rule of law. To divert the
attention of the common people from the series of mega scams, chronic
maladministration and utter lawlessness, as you might know, he announced the
so-called populist doles like 5 rupee rice-dal scheme, free umbrella and
blanket scheme etc.
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