BHUBANESWAR: Recovering from the devastating Covid-19 pandemic, the 21st year of the twenty-first century saw its share of political storms in the State. For much of the year, the Opposition parties grabbed the media space with their high-octane campaign both in and outside Odisha Legislative Assembly against the BJD government over two murder cases.
The monsoon and the winter sessions of the Assembly were a complete washout as a determined opposition BJP and Congress paralysed the House over their demand for resignation of two ministers for their alleged involvement in two separate murder cases - one in January and the other, in October.
The Opposition put the Government on the defensive alleging involvement of Law Minister Pratap Jena in the murder of BJP leader Kulamani Baral and his associate Dibyasingha Baral, a charge denied by ruling BJD.
However, the kidnap and murder of Mamita Meher, a school teacher of Kalahandi later in the year, grabbed headlines across the nation, after the victim’s charred remains were found buried on the premises of the institute where she worked.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik came under fire for giving protection to Minister of State for Home Dibya Shankar Mishra who was targeted for shielding Gobinda Sahu, prime accused in the case. Such was the intensity of Opposition campaign it forced him to order appointment of a retired judge to monitor the investigation. Known to drop ministers for being under ‘cloud of suspicion’, the CM though put his foot down on the two issues and refused to cast away the two from his Cabinet despite months long protest by the Opposition.
Interestingly, the Mamita Meher murder case brought the two opposition parties, BJP and Congress, on the same page and a rare unity was on display while fighting for the lady teacher in their own separate way.
Perhaps for the first time, the Opposition legislators worked in tandem with their respective parties while taking up the fight against the Government on a single issue.
The Chief Minister, whose image largely remained unblemished despite serious allegations leveled against two of his key ministers and adverse reports by two Central teams alleging large-scale irregularities in the rural housing scheme and paddy procurement, faced the Opposition’s wrath but with his usual composure, he maintained his popularity by retaining the Pipili Assembly seat in the by-poll.
An astute politician, Naveen, however, took the wind out of Opposition sails by announcing a slew of doles for different sections of the society ahead of the panchayat polls. The Biju Swashya Kalyan Yojana smart health cards, direct cash benefits for house repair, livelihood assistance for a large section of the society and a spate of new projects kept him busy. The rattled Opposition parties are yet to figure out how to counter the juggernaut in the next bout of the rural polls.
Protests over murders