THE issues that made Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi a champion of Hindutva may be different from those being debated in Orissa today. But Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal president Naveen Patnaik seems to be following in Modis footsteps by playing into the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the lone partner of the BJD in the ruling alliance.
Although Patnaik, as Chief Minister, reacted to the widespread communal violence, his party did not issue any formal statement condemning it. When other parties and organisations held peace rallies after the riots, the BJD did not organise any such meeting or programme.
Above all, BJD workers joined BJP activists to enforce the State-wide bandh called by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and other Sangh Parivar outfits. In Kandhamal, the political divide was very clear, with the BJD and the BJP brushing aside all their differences.
Apparently, realising that he was fast deviating from the path that his father Biju Patnaik followed as Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik, in a statement in the State Assembly, claimed that the secular credentials of his government were well established and needed no explaining.
Moreover, the State government virtually supported the day-long bandh by ordering the closure of all educational institutions that day. Supporters of the bandh brought normal life to a halt and faced no opposition from the State administration in achieving that.
For reasons best known to it, the State government allowed the VHP to organise the funeral procession of the swami within communally sensitive Kandhamal, which had witnessed communal violence last December. The procession only added fuel to the communal fire that was smouldering for long. Ministers of the BJP and VHP leader Praveen Togadia were allowed to attend the cremation of the swami at Chakapad when Christians were targeted across the district. But some Congress leaders were arrested when they tried to enter Kandhamal.
Patnaik also placed under suspension Nikhil Kumar Kanodia, Superintendent of Police of Kandhamal, when violence was spreading in the district. Kanodia was suspended under pressure from some BJP Ministers, it was said. But what raised eyebrows was Patnaiks visit to the site of the swamis murder, Jalespata ashram, when he toured Kandhamal district. The BJD president was prompt to condemn the killing of the VHP leader and appeal to the people to maintain peace, but took 10 days to describe the communal riots as unfortunate. He termed both instances of communal violence in Kandhamal the one last December and this one as the two unfortunate incidents during his eight-and-a-half-year rule.
There were two kinds of reactions among the people about Patnaiks stand on the killing of the swami and the violence that followed. While one section was of the view that Patnaik may not have been in the know of the Sangh Parivars designs, another felt that the Chief Minister was trying to cash in on the situation to strengthen the vote bank of the ruling combine ahead of elections. Patnaik may succeed in strengthening the alliances vote bank but what the BJD-BJP equations will be after the elections is anyones guess.
As of now Patnaik, his critics say, is going the Modi way with his eyes set on the elections.
Prafulla DasCOMMents
COMMents
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