BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Friday lambasted the ‘Babu Raj’ promoted by the previous BJD government by recounting the humiliation he was meted out by a police officer in Keonjhar, a month before becoming the executive head of the state.
Sharing his ordeal at the first conference of the district collectors chaired by him at Lok Seva Bhavan, the chief minister said the inspector-in-charge (IIC) of Keonjhar Town ordered him to ‘get out’ of the police station when he as a legislator had gone there to lend support to the people agitating over drinking water crisis by blocking the NH-20.
Taking a dig at ‘Ama Thana’ slogan of the previous BJD government, Majhi said the police officer misbehaved with him even though he was the local MLA and deputy chief whip of the then opposition BJP in the Assembly.
“The IIC who had invited the agitators to the police station to find a solution to their demand, not only questioned my presence there but also threatened to arrest me if I did not follow his order as I was violating the model code of conduct (in force due to the general elections). When I explained that it was my duty to share the concern of the people as the local MLA, the officer asked me to get out,” said the chief minister.
“Can’t I, as an MLA, visit the police station even if the model code of conduct was in force?” questioned Majhi, who was the BJP candidate from Keonjhar Assembly seat.
He further said, “I do not know if the IIC was acting on his own or was under pressure. With the blessings of Lord Jagannath, I became the chief minister and could well imagine the condition of the IIC. I forgave him believing that he was working under someone’s pressure,” he said.
“If such a thing happened to an MLA, just imagine the kind of treatment the police are meting out to common people when they are coming with their grievance,” he said.
Majhi further said this was not an isolated incident. He narrated the disrespect shown to President Droupadi Murmu when she was a minister in the BJD-BJP coalition government during her visit to Keonjhar with a central minister. The then district collector neither showed her respect nor offered her a chair. The collector claimed he did not recognise her and even did not show the minimum courtesy to apologise to her, he said.
Advising government officials to give due respect to elected public representatives, as stated in Book Circular 47, the chief minister urged them to change such attitude and foster a culture of respect and accountability within government institutions.