The shadow of the ponzi scam refuses to leave the Biju Janata Dal (BJD). It is now embroiled in another controversy because a set of its party men associated with the Odia film industry virtually danced to the tune of a tainted chit fund firm promoter, Pravas Rout. Two of the BJD’s heavy weight cine star MPs — Sidhanta Mohapatra and Anubhav Mohanty — were allegedly on the payroll of the scamster. If that was not embarrassing enough, popular comedian Tattwa Prakash Satpathy aka Papu Pum Pum was found to have close links with Oscar International, the chit fund firm Rout floated.
Papu is a household name in Odisha and his popularity had prompted Naveen Patnaik to pitch him in the last Assembly elections as a party candidate. As things turn out today, Satpathy has admitted not only to investing in but also securing loan from Oscar International to fund his election campaign. New skeletons keep tumbling out of the BJD’s closet with unfailing regularity exposing the moral vacuum in the state’s elite.
First, the nexus of some of its legislators and MPs with the chit fund companies shamed it and then came the alleged proximity of some newspaper editors and senior police officers to a shady middleman. Now, it is the turn of Odisha’s celluloid heroes to find themselves in the mess. No section of the state’s top socio-political hierarchy appears to be free from the malaise of greed and corruption. So much so, that those who are supposed to be role models for the people have shown no qualms about enriching themselves at the expense of the poor and middle-class Odia.
While top Ollywood stars like Sidhanta and Anubhav took home fat paychecks to play the lead in Rout’s films, other veteran actors were appointed as brand ambassadors of his ponzi firm, all of which came from the deposits of the hapless investors.
Ironically, these big-screen heroes have turned into real life villains preying on the very audience that catapulted them to stardom. While none holds the Naveen government completely responsible for Odisha’s poor choosing to invest in chit fund companies in the hope of becoming rich overnight, the system he headed has certainly failed to rein in those responsible for duping the gullible.
The Crime Branch has been reluctant to touch the ruling party members in the past and even today and continues to drag its feet in the Rout case, to curry favour with the political bosses. On the other hand, the Central Bureau of Investigation, which is entrusted with the probe of the chit fund scam involving 44 companies, is moving at a snail’s pace. After the initial burst of activity, the central agency has shown no urgency to nail the culprits giving credence to allegations of Naveen Patnaik indirectly providing much-needed support to the Narendra Modi government in the Rajya Sabha as a quid pro quo of sorts.
Whether it is the patronage of the mining mafia or ponzi scheme promoters or fake health service operators, what is in the dock here is the value system of the BJD which has been unravelling lately. Yet the party has chosen to brazen its way through the scandal. The spreading rot needs to be stemmed.
Once known to show party leaders the door for the slightest shadow of impropriety, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s resounding silence in the wake of the involvement of the highest echelons of his government with organised crime lends weight to charges that he is shielding the guilty.
With the Panchayat elections round the corner, Naveen may be in no mood to rock the boat, but he must remember that it is the clean brand image he created for the BJD that got him a historic verdict in the last elections.
Srimoy Kar
Resident Editor, Odisha
E-mail: Srimoy@newindianexpress.com