Orissa: Why BJP lost miserably?

Saswat Panigrahi

The Verdict 2009 brought a historic double win for Naveen Patnaik, as his Biju Janata Dal (BJD) swept both the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. The regional outfit won a staggering 103 and 14 of the 147 assembly and 21 Lok Sabha seats respectively. The Congress came as a distant second with its tally a measly 27 in assembly and six in Lok Sabha. However, the verdict came as a shock and awe for the BJP as the saffron party bite the dust with its tally reduced to a mere six in the Assembly and a cropper in Lok Sabha, bringing the party’s position back to two decades.

The performance of the Congress is easily understood as an anti-Congress wave continues to blow in the State. But the humiliating defeat of the BJP on the face of an undercurrent of Naveen wave has surprised many.

At a time the State BJP is still clueless about its defeat, some leaders say ‘a well panned conspiracy’ was hatched to make the election result one-sided. They attribute ‘large scale EVM tampering’, ‘scientific rigging’, ‘use of black money and muscle power’ by the ruling BJD as the causes for the abysmal performance. But the stark reality, which has been outlined in this election result, was despite four decades of the ‘saffron political movement’ in Orissa (including the Jan Sangh era) the BJP still does not have a mass base in the State.

A few who know the insight out of Orissa’s political history say Late BJP strategist Pramod Mahajan played a crucial role in the formation of BJD, before stitching its alliance with the saffron party. After Biju Patnaik’s demise in April 1997, a sympathy wave was blowing in Orissa in favour of the legendry leader. To cash in on that wave, Mahajan met Biju legacy leaders. Some of them opined to merge the Orissa unit of the Janata Dal with the BJP. But it was Mahajan who proposed to float a party in the name of Biju babu and its alliance with BJP to bring a debacle for the Congress in Orissa, a suggestion the Janata leaders could not but accept. The BJD was formed in December, 1997 and its alliance with the BJP was forged in February 1998. It is said that all initial formative logistics for BJD was provided by the BJP. Biju babu’s son Naveen Patnaik, who since then was elected as a member of 11th Lok Sabha in a by-election following his father’s demise and emerged as an unanimous consensus to lead the party. BJP-BJD coalition was widely acceptable by the masses as Orissa awaited for a change with a Congress regime led by JB Patnaik was marked by mass corruption and which severely compromised State’s development. Riding an anti-Congress wave BJP-BJD coalition swept State elections and Naveen became the CM. But, after coming to power the BJP started doing a political piggy riding and used Naveen as a surrogate. In a decade long BJP-BJD coalition regime, while the BJD was busy in enhancing its mass base, BJP did not bother to strengthen its grass root. A sizable number of BJP leaders distanced themselves from the organisation. Barely a month before the election, when the BJP and BJD parted ways, a ‘cadre mess’ Orissa BJP was walking on its lost path.

Party’s poor organisational position could be attributed as another reason for the defeat. Those who keep track of BJP affairs in Orissa must have known a major change of guard took place after 2004. This resulted in a vertical division in the organisation. The organisation and elected persons were divided into two different polls.

Most of the new guards were not equipped to handle the party affairs and seriously lacked assertiveness to manage the organisation. It was a fact that the old guard had a mass base, which could not be shifted to the new guards. The new guards could not get visible response neither from within the party nor from the public. They were not acceptable either by the Sangh parivar at large or by the BJP sympathisers.

The situation - Cold War like between the old guards and the new guards, which created a negative atmosphere in the rank and file of the party. Knowingly or un-knowingly the network of Sangh was asked to use negatively. The active section of the party was made idle. The division in the organisation, which became wide and open, reflected in the public. This brought confusion amongst the grass root workers, who naturally questioned which side they could stick to. As a result the party cadre was made idle and the real workers felt left out. Hence the Orissa BJP could not come to a work stable condition.

A month before the election, when the BJD broke its ties with the BJP, the saffron party was in search of candidates for number of seats. For many segments the party selected wrong candidates. The two main criteria for candidates’ selection – ability to win and loyalty to the party were brushed aside. Nigh hand-picked candidates featured prominently in party list. At some places the party selected candidates those who were neither primary members, nor from a RSS background nor had a mass base. Some mere party hoppers, simply rejected by other parties, in quest of getting a ticket switched to BJP.

Even during the election the Cold War in the party continued to play its role. Most of those who have experience in poll management were replaced by those who were new to planning and strategy. As a result party’s ‘War room’ was severely mismanaged.

A sizable chunk of BJP candidates were not confident to win elections. Statements like “Orissa BJP is preparing for the 2014 election” by some leaders during the heat and dust of election seriously affected the zeal of the party workers. “If not vote for us, vote for Congress but do not vote for BJD” - some politically immature candidates even went on to campaign - severely went against the party. This writer has seen some poorly attended rally of the saffron party during the election.

Unlike the BJD the saffron party failed to project a ‘real leader.’ Orissa was confused to understand who heads the State unit of BJP, forget about accepting a leader. In such a situation Naveen’s BJD was more acceptable.

The scriptwriters of the saffron party failed to highlight the development initiative, the party had brought in a decade old regime, which it shared with BJD. It is a fact that the BJP has a sizable share in the achievements in the decade-long coalition Government. The Rs 2-a-kg rice scheme could be cited as an example. Orissa Government launched the scheme by the Civil Supplies department headed by a BJP minister. But BJP did not bother to highlight it in the election. On the other hand BJD used the issue to garner vote of the people below poverty line. In Orissa, where food scarcity is a major problem, the ‘politics of rice’ was a major electoral savior for the Naveen led BJD.

In addition to that, in its election campaign, BJD highlighted a number of pro-poor schemes initiated by Orissa Government, in which BJP also had its equal share. The party linked the development initiates with its name and presented its ‘success story’ to the masses, which BJP failed to do.

It was not only its own development initiative which BJP failed to highlight during the election campaign, but also the party did not raise issues which are plaguing Orissa -- Maoist menace, rehabilitation, distress selling of paddy, tribals being squeezed out of their ancestral lands -- which could have taken shape of a strong anti-incumbency against Naveen Patnaik.

In an era of media clutter, where political advertisement plays a major role in shaping the public opinion, Orissa BJP’s advertisement catchlines had nothing different to attract the masses. For example the advertisement “Athera Odisha re BJP aagare (This time in Orissa BJP is ahead) could not explain why the State should vote for BJP.

Intra-party activities, weak organisational position, inability to understand issues and an assertiveness to raise them all paid for the abysmal performance of BJP in Orissa. The result was for everybody to see. The party’s very existence is in serious peril in the face of a victor BJD and a reviving Congress. The result has come as a shock therapy for BJP. To rise as a strong unit, the Orissa BJP has to improve quality, acceptability and capacity. But, can BJP rise in Orissa? If it thinks of a Phoenix like rise, its time to arise and awake.

A many-layered tale

Saswat Panigrahi

The Storyteller’s Tale
Omair Ahmad
Penguin, Rs 225

The great city of Delhi was battered and bruised at different periods of history. One such destruction the glorious city was witness to was when Ahmad Shah Abdalai, the founder of the Durrani empire, plundered it in the 1700s to satiate his thirst for loot and pillage.

Memories of that large-scale destruction haunted one storyteller. He wanted to speak of the pain the devastation had caused in his heart. That storyteller is the protagonist of The Storyteller’s Tale by Omair Ahmad. Without a name, he is simply called “the storyteller”. The central aspect of the book is the love for beauty. Perhaps, the writer has rightly said in his introductory note, “...in many chambers of music and dance, the word love was spoken of in many ways, it was nothing but a currency of exchange of looks and glances, and promises that were never truly what they pretended to be.”

The storyteller’s love for the city of Delhi comes alive when he is asked which place he belongs to. “Dilli jo ek shahr tha, aalam mein intekhaab…jisko falakh ne loot kar barbaad kar diya/ Hum rahnewale usi ujde dayaar ke.” (Delhi, that chosen city of the world/ … That the heavens have looted and laid waste/ I am an inhabitant of that destroyed garden.)

As the story unfolds, the protagonist finds himself in an isolated casbah which happens to be that of Mirza Azeem Jalal-ud-din Khan. Here the storyteller encounters a Begum suffering the ‘imprisonment’ of loneliness in the Mirza’s absence. He is intoxicated by her incredible beauty.

The Begum invites the storyteller in to share some stories. The protagonist dwells on tales of love, loyalty, hurt, fear and distrust. This provokes the Begum into responding with her own story — a tale of two brothers who were each other’s closest companions and about the adventure of their youth. The tale takes the storyteller by surprise. In a sharp move, he starts retelling the Begum’s story through a many layered tale of innocence, love, friendship, sacrifice, loyalty, betrayal, anguish, perfidy, promises, success, and loss.

As the story moves on, the storyteller directs the Begum to that part of the tale which deals with raiders and looters and describes how the brave had thrown away their lives to keep the marauders at bay. Perhaps somewhere the storyteller is aware of the fact that the master of the haveli was a worse brigand, aptly called a captain of men — Mirza.

The storyteller speaks his words with felt experience. He despises the raiders because they destroyed something which they couldn’t build and whose greatness they could not even fully grasp.

At another level the storyteller’s tale reminds the Begum that it was the same city her husband raided. The narrative seems to tell her that the storyteller had come to intimately know those myriad layers of suffering over time.

While coursing through the book, the reviewer finds that the author has tried to experiment with his imagination and style by narrating a set of stories within a story, where each character has a different story to tell. However, what the writer has disregarded is the complexity of his presentation. There are lots of sub-stories surrounding the main theme, where some stories are in their appropriate context, others not. In the process the main theme seems to get overshadowed.

-- Review published in Book page, Sunday Pioneer on Mar 24 2009

Orissa: The feel bad factor

With the intensification of offensive by the BJP against the BJD, the BJD faces the first serious threat to its position at the helm in Orissa in a decade, writes Saswat Panigrahi

Orissa is all poised for a tough triangular contest between the BJD, BJP, and the Congress in the coming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. With each of the major players claiming a dedicated vote bank, it is indeed difficult to read the State’s political calculus.

The Congress, which boasts of a traditional vote base in the State, has not been able to improve on its present reach as the party has miserably failed to project itself as a responsible Opposition during the decade-long BJD-BJP coalition Government. There has been an anti-Congress wave across the State since JB Patnaik’s stint as Chief Minister, a tenure marked by mass corruption which severely compromised Orissa’s development. Riding on this wave the BJD-BJP coalition swept the 2000 Assembly elections, continuing into the 2004 State elections when the anti-Congress factor combined with Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s popularity gifted the alliance another term. With Orissa’s electorate convinced that the State had been taken care of during the NDA regime, the BJP won seven of the nine parliamentary seats it contested and the BJP-BJD together won 18 out of 21.

Election 2009 is no longer an either-or contest. With the BJP and the BJD having reached a point of no-return it is time now for a parallel division of the anti-Congress votes between the two.

Indeed, a large chunk of voters in the State are fed up with the Congress-led UPA’s national security strategy, its economic policies, its failure to tackle terrorism, and its fetish for communal and caste politics. This creates space for a “moderate BJP” both in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. Apart from the BJP’s considerable support base among the youth, the saffron party also has a dedicated section of voters that believes in cultural nationalism.

As for the BJD, while it may not be an ideology-based party, it is a regional outfit with grassroots presence across the State. Additionally, it has a stronger cadre than the BJP. With no ideology to fall back on, the party has to seek votes on Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s decade-old performance. Here, there are enough issues in the State like bijli, sadak and paani, rehabilitation, religious conflicts and farmers’ crisis that could assume the shape of a faceless anti-incumbency factor against Patnaik. An autopsy of the problems plaguing Orissa reveals Patnaik’s lack of political will to address them which could translate into a negative verdict for the BJD.

While the Patnaik regime has brought several international investment projects to the State, reports suggest several projects are in the process of being shifted out of the State, pointing to Patnaik’s failure to address the gap between Orissa’s potential and performance. The other side of the story of course is the plight of thousands of displaced people who have been denied the benefits of these projects. The Kalinganagar massacre of January 2004, which claimed the lives of 12 tribals demanding compensation for lost land and homes, remains a blot. “Given the issue of rehabilitation, Naveen’s thirst for foreign investment will boomerang for the BJD in this election,” says a political observer.

To add to Patnaik’s list of woes is the State’s moribund agriculture sector. There is also mounting discontent among a section of Government employees and pension holders. The State’s health sector is in a chaos. The Maoists have unleashed havoc in the State during Patnaik’s decade-old regime. Eighteen of Orissa’s 30 districts are known to be Naxal infested with the Government not seen to have taken any visible action to curb the threat. On another front, tribals have been squeezed out of their ancestral land. Religious conflicts and the issue of conversion with Christian missionaries have rocked tribal districts like Kandhamal where the State Government has been seen on the side of the missionaries. Eight months have passed since the killing of VHP veteran Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati but there has been no progress in the case so far. Laxmanananda was a revered spiritual icon in the State, known for his relentless struggle for tribal welfare and for spearheading the anti-conversion movement. In this context, the BJD faces the dual charge of being anti-Hindu and anti-tribal.

By severing ties with the BJP Patnaik has unwittingly helped his former ally. Had the BJP and the BJD fought the election together, the BJP could not have escaped being part of a Government that could not punish the killers of a Hindu icon. Following the split, the BJP will be comfortable in revisiting its Hindu vote bank. Also, in the recent past the Orissa BJP has been plagued with factions, a reason for its poor performance in the recently concluded urban local elections. With the split, the faction-ridden State unit has united both against the BJD and the Congress.

“After Laxmananda’s murder the BJP cadre wanted the party to move away from the coalition with the BJD. But the coalition’s continuance had saddened the cadre. With the BJD parting ways with the BJP there is now a feel-good factor with the party coming together as a cohesive body to prove Naveen wrong,” says senior political commentator Pratap Mohanty.

Following the split with the BJP, Patnaik’s hobnobbing with the Left, the JMM and the NCP has deepened the impression of him being an opportunist. After CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury and CPI general secretary AB Bardhan called on Patnaik, the NCP, a partner of UPA at the Centre, too joined hands with the BJD. Ironically, the JMM which talks of Orissa’s bifurcation also joined the bandwagon (the arrangement with the JMM has since fallen through). Patnaik scraped through the controversial vote of confidence on March 11 on the support of these parties who once branded him corrupt. However, Patnaik’s new-found friends are considered non-entities in the State’s politics.

The BJD’s political U-turn will be easily acceptable to its leaders since barring a few bearing the Biju legacy, a sizable number of leaders of the party have a Left background, a few are erstwhile Congress while some are mere party huggers.

Playing the wronged party, the BJP is on the upswing. “Naveen betrayed the anti-Congress voters of Orissa, who did not vote exclusively for him, but for the BJP-BJD coalition. He betrayed four crore Oriyas by creating political instability in a stable State,” says BJP MP MA Kharabela Swain. With “betrayal” its running theme the BJP kickstarted its election campaign with a Vijay Sankalp Samabesh where party leader Sushma Swaraj’s speech in Oriya readily caught the people’s imagination, highlighting Patnaik’s inability to speak the language.

This week spelt further trouble for Patnaik when two of his well-known detractors, Bijoy Mohapatra and Dilip Ray, joined the BJP. The two heavyweights command considerable influence in the State’s politics, both sharing the credit for installing Naveen Patnaik as Orissa’s Chief Minister. Mohapatra recently stepped down as president of the Orissa unit of the NCP following his disagreement with the central leadership over supporting the CM. The move comes on the heels of BJD MP Archana Nayak joining the BJP. While Mohapatra declared Naveen a “serial killer” Ray said it was their “collective fight” to unseat the BJD Government and “expose” Naveen Patnaik. Former MP Anadi Sahu has also resigned from the NCP to join the BJP. With such an offensive from the saffron party, the BJD faces the first serious threat to its position at the State’s helm in a decade.

-- Published in 'Agenda', Sunday Pioneer on Mar 29 2009

Fake notes, real problem

To what degree is counterfeit Indian currency becoming an instrument for terror networks? Saswat Panigrahi goes investigating, and returns alarmed

The use of “supernotes” — counterfeit currency or fake rupees — by terrorist syndicates could be seriously undermining India’s war against terror. A smart replica of an authentic note, prepared using the same paper and the same ink, counterfeit currency could seriously devalue the real worth of the Indian currency.

The idea is not a new one. Historically, nations have used the counterfeiting of money as a means of warfare. Britain did this during the American War of Independence, to reduce the value of the Continental dollar. The United States did it during the Civil War against the rebellious Southern States. Times have changed. Now counterfeiting of money has become an ingredient of the terror agenda.

According to a recent Government estimate, counterfeit currency amounting to Rs 169,000 crore is floating around in the Indian financial system. From real estate transactions to ordinary grocery shopping, these bogus notes are being deployed everyday — sometimes innocently, sometimes with a sinister objective. “In 2008, the CBI registered 13 cases having international/ inter-State ramifications relating to the recovery/ seizure of fake Indian currency notes,” says Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) spokesperson Harsh Bhal.

According to the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB), between January and August 2008, 1,170 cases had been registered across the country in connection with fake currency. Bogus notes with a face value of Rs 3.63 crore had been seized. NCRB data shows 2,204 such cases were reported in 2007.

Intelligence agencies see the counterfeit rupee attack as a form of “economic terrorism”. They have traced many of the fake currency operations back to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and its ancillary crime syndicates such as the Dawood Ibrahim gang. With a multi-layered network in Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka and also inside India, counterfeit notes enter India in all three ways — through land, sea and air.

Intelligence officials say the ISI uses terrorist groups such as the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT), the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) to smuggle and circulate counterfeit currency in India.

A large chunk of fake currency comes in through India’s borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh. The frontier with Pakistan in Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan and the porous border with Bangladesh in West Bengal, Assam and the Northeast make for entry points. The Uttar Pradesh-Bihar border with Nepal is another route for the inflow of fake currency.

Sea-borne consignments also turn up in Tamil Nadu (from Sri Lanka) and in Gujarat (from Pakistan). Additionally, bogus notes are flown in from Dubai.

Local criminal networks are activated for the purpose. In Rajasthan, for instance, fake currency operations are closely linked to satta (gambling) and opium smuggling. Indirectly, this drug smuggling ends up financing terrorism in Pakistan.

In Dubai, two key Dawood lieutenants — Aftab Bhakti and Babu Gaithan — run operations. The money is transported to India in regular flights, through ordinary passengers. Indian labourers who work in Dubai are the usual targets. The racketeers focus on those who are in need of money to purchase return tickets. They arrange tickets and ask for a favour: “Deliver our cargo to India.”

The passengers are handed ordinary suitcases, with perhaps perfume bottles and clothes packed inside. A false bottom conceals the fake currency, wrapped in carbon paper or hidden in photo albums. From Dubai, the fake currency consignments reach two major transit points — Mumbai and Hyderabad.

In India, counterfeit currency has long been seen as a source of funding for terrorism. Investigations into at least four cases — the Hyderabad bombings of August 2007; the attack on the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in December 2005; the Ahmedabad bombings of July 2008; and the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai — revealed a link.

Dangerously, the counterfeiters have managed to find their way into the official banking system. “Perhaps there is no better way to pummel India’s economy,” says an intelligence official. He explains the modus operandi. Fake currency operatives usually deposit the notes during peak hours when bank tellers are pressed for time and liable to make mistakes.

A few months ago, fake currency amounting to nearly Rs 3 crore was found in the chest of the State Bank of India’s Domariaganj branch in Uttar Pradesh’s Siddarthnagar district. Some fake notes were also found in the currency chest of ICICI Bank’s Sanjay Place branch in Agra. The examples can go on.

Where are the fake notes printed? A CBI report to the Finance Ministry suggested that the Pakistan Government printing press in Quetta (Baluchistan) was churning out large quantities of counterfeit Indian currency.

Karachi’s security press, and two other presses in Lahore and Peshawar, have also been suspected.

Reports say the paper for the fake notes is sourced from London. Indian investigators also allege the Pakistani Government imports currency-standard printing paper far in excess of official needs. The extra quantum is handed over to the ISI, it is believed.

The fine quality of Pakistan-produced fake currency has alarmed India. Printed on security paper, the sophistication and craftsmanship is of a high order. “Only a specialist can make out the notes as counterfeit,” says an intelligence official. The fake notes duplicate serial numbers and floral designs of genuine notes. In addition, they even have the security wire or “guide wire” — the common man’s mode of authenticating a currency note.

However, there remain some printing misalignments. The Reserve Bank of India has issued guidelines containing features, which can help the common man establish whether the currency is fake or genuine.

So far the Government of India has not been able to put in place a comprehensive mechanism to check the entry and spread of fake currency. On their part, security agencies are clamouring for intense scrutiny of India’s banking system. They are not sure what it hides.

The RBI is contemplating enhancing security features in Indian rupee notes. It also proposes to withdraw all currency notes printed between 1996 and 2000 and gradually introducing a new series of currency notes. Serial numbers of notes printed in that period have tended to be used most by counterfeiters.

However, in the larger reckoning, the problem remains. If and when India does decide to take action against Pakistan-based terror, it may find that it is not enough to destroy merely military camps. A certain currency printing press in Quetta may also need to be blown up!

Spot a Counterfeit

• The value of the note, “500”, is printed partially in the front and partially on the reverse. The number appears as one when viewed against the light.


• In order to allow the visually impaired to identify the value of the note, a circle, which can also be felt by touch, appears here.
• Mahatma Gandhi’s picture, lines in different directions and a mark showing “500” appear here. Viewed better when note is held against light.
• Reserve Bank seal, guarantee and promise clause, Mahatma Gandhi’s picture, RBI Governor’s signature and Ashoka Pillar emblem on the left, and identification facility for the visually impaired, are printed in intaglio and can be felt by touch.
• Colour of denomination appears green when note is held flat, and blue when held at an angle. Font size reduces too.
• A band with “Bharat” in Hindi and “RBI” written on it, which can change from green to blue when viewed from different angles.
• “RBI” and “500” can be seen with a magnifying glass between Gandhiji’s picture and the vertical band.
• A vertical ‘latent image’ of the number 500 when the note is held horizontally.
• The year the note is printed in appears on the reverse


• The number “500” (as explained in 1), seen from front and reverse.

-- Published in 'Agenda' of Sunday Pioneer on January 18, 2009

The other side of the Kandhamal story: Tribals disinherited

Christian missionaries are instigating Panas against Kandhas who are being squeezed out of their ancestral land in this Orissa district writes Saswat Panigrahi

Battered and bruised by simmering caste and communal hostility, Kandhamal's agony is endless. Scuffled with poverty and illiteracy, the southern Orissa district continues to make headlines for rampant religious conversions and communal rupture.

Contrary to the widespread media reports blaming the Hindu organisations for the hostility, a look into the past would reveal that it is some Christian missionaries who in the name of social work have created religious conflict.

Kandhamal has two major inhabitants -- Kandhas who are STs and constitute 52 per cent of the district total population and Panas, who belong to the SC community and are 19 per cent of the population.

Over the years, a majority of the Panas were converted to Christianity, leading to an increase in the Christian population of the district from a mere 19,128 in 1951 to 1,17,950 in 2001. Of the total Christian population in the district, 60 per cent are converted Panas.

However, the Kandhas have a history of vociferous resistance for the forceful religious conversion by missionary forces -- during both the French and British colonialism. These resistances resulted in Kandha Meli (Kandha Movement), a revolution that lived from 1753 to 1846. The French colonialism succumbed to the movement in 1759 but the tentacles of conversion came back to the area with the advent of the British. Their efforts to convert the Kandhas to Christianity witnessed stiff resistance. TW Kawe, the administrator of the East India Company, in his report admitted: "The missionary activities all over the estate alarmed the people about the impending danger to their religion and civilisation, and subsequently they took to arms to defend their faith and culture."

The British left India, but the designs of conversion remained. Following the footprints of the British colonialists, Christian missionaries are today spearheading the rampant conversion.

Since long, Kandhas and Panas have been divided ethnically. Even on the grounds of reservation, STs continue to enjoy the benefits of reservation after conversion to other religions, but SCs cease to belong to any caste and hence are legally treated as general category.

The central scheduled tribe list, amended in the early 1990s, included the Kui community in the ST category. Sensing the benefit from both reservation as well as sops doled out by missionaries, a sizable number of Pana Christians, those who speak Kui language and who have lost their SC tag after conversion, wanted it back by circumventing the provision of the Indian Constitution which categorically refuses reservation along linguistic lines. This was vehemently opposed by the Kandhas.

The rift widened further after the change in the reservation status of Kandhamal Lok Sabha constituency and its three Assembly constituencies by the Delimitation Commission. Illegal encroachment of land by a section of Panas which originally belonged to the Kandhas further added to the problem. As per the Land Regulations Act of the State, no non-ST can buy or take possession of land from a tribal owner.

Christian missionaries take advantage of this by instigating the Panas against the Kandhas and inciting anti-Hindu sentiments. The violence in Kandhamal following the killing of VHP veteran Swami Laxmananda Saraswati is the result of such communal polarisation.

Though the Maoists claimed to have killed Laxamananda, its leader Sabyasachi Panda's claim that most Maoist cadres in Orissa are Christians only points to a deeper missionary-Maoist nexus.

-- Published in Op-Ed page of The Pioneer on November 11, 2008

A life dedicated to the poor

Saswat Panigrahi

Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati worked for tribal welfare

The killing of veteran VHP leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati along with four of his associates at Jaleshpata ashram in Orissa's Kandhamal district on the eve of Janmashtami outlines an abysmal administrative failure to protect a social reformer from the tentacles of terrorism.

This was not the first time that he faced a threat to his life. In December 2007, Laxmanananda sustained serious injuries in a violent attack at Daringbadi, which is the centre of missionary activities in Orissa's Kandhamal district. The attack was allegedly masterminded by a Congress Rajya Sabha MP and the chief of the missionary organisation, World Vision, Mr Radhakant Nayak. Following the attack, there several complaints were registered to enhance the swami's security, but they all fell on deaf ears. However, the Jaleshpata ashram was provided with one police constable and two guards for Laxmanananda's security.

Within hours after the killing, State Director-General of Police Gopal Nanda, without waiting for a full inquiry, promptly made a statement that Maoists were behind the incident. But the Hindu Jagaran Samukshya, an RSS organisation, told this writer that the killing was planned and executed by missionaries.Mr Ashok Sahu, president of HJS's Orissa unit and former Assam Additional Director-General of Police, said, "The conspiracy to kill Laxmanananda was hatched in a meeting convened by Christian missionaries at Raikia Community Centre on August 9. A former MP was among those who attended the meeting."

On August 13, a threatening letter was circulated to the district and State authorities, a copy of which was forwarded to Laxmanananda. On August 22, he appealed to the District Magistrate of Kandhamal to enhance his personal security. The next morning, the news that his life was under threat, was flashed by the local media. In the evening he was killed along with four of his associates during a spiritual discourse.

"Never have fear of death when you are working for the cause of the motherland." These were the last words of Laxmanananda to one of his disciples.

The 84-year-old monk has laid down his life for the cause of the poor. Born in 1924 in Anugul, Orissa, Laxmanananda left home and went to Rishikesh to practice sadhna in the caves of the Himalayas for nine-long-years.

In 1966, he joined the Goraksha Andolan (anti-cow slaughter movement). It was in those days that he came in close contacts with MS Golwalkar, the then sarsanghchalak of the RSS. Golwalkar once told him, "Swamiji, cannot you hear the call of Bharat Mata and Gomata?" These words inspired him to dedicate his life to the service of the poor and the marginalised.

In 1967, Laxmanananda returned to his home State and spearheaded the Goraksha Andolan. Meanwhile, the Sangh requested him to go to Kandhamal (then a part of the erstwhile Boudh-Kandhamal district) to serve the poor tribals and to combat rampant conversion by the Christian missionaries.

For the last four decades Laxmanananda was relentless in his struggle for the cause of Kandhas, the tribals of Kandhamal.

Laxmananda sacrificed his life to render service to the poor and crafted a template for social reformation. His demise has created a void in the field of selfless social service.

-- Published in Oped page of The Pioneer on September 5, 2008

Fissures in the Left

With the RSP calling the CPI(M) China's 'agent', Communist unity remains elusive, writes Saswat Panigrahi

Fissures in the Left parties are widening with the Revolutionary Socialist Party leading a dissidence against the CPI(M)-led Left-front. The party has criticised the CPI(M) for Nandigram and Singur. It has refused to toe the CPI(M) line on the issue of SEZs. The intra-Left dispute became more apparent in the recent panchayat elections in West Bengal, in which the CPI(M)-RSP rift reached at a point of no return. The party has even started branding the Marxists as "China agents".

Today, the RSP is working towards the formation of an alternative Left Front, which may even include the anti-national forces like Maoists. However, while flipping through the pre-independence history, one must find how the evolution of the party traversed through some notable nationalist movements.

Founded in March 19, 1940, the party has its roots in the Bengali liberation movement Anushilan Samiti and the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army -- an era in which Hindutva, cultural nationalism and socialism had a rare blend to reach at the focal point of revolution against the British Raj.

Emerged as an offshoot of the Anushilan Samiti, the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA), known as the Hindustan Republican Association until 1928, was led by Bhagat Singh, Yogendra Shukla and Chandrasekar Azad. It was one of first socialist organisations in India and was inspired by the Russian Revolution of 1917. An oft-quoted slogan -- Inquilab Zindabad (Long Live Revolution) -- was popularised in the activities of the organisation.

The Anushilan Samiti -- meaning to follow the teachings of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee was the principal revolutionary organisation operating in Bengal in the early-20th century. The association was established in Kolkata by Barrister Pramatha Nath Mitra in 1902. Sri Aurobindo, Deshabandhu Chittaranjan Das, Jatindra Nath Banerjee, Jatindra Nath Mukherjee (Bagha Jatin), etc, were its initial leaders. It was in their philosophies and thoughts that the vocabularies of revolutionary ideas were rooted.

A major section of the Anushilan movement had been attracted to Marxism during the 1930s, many of them studying Marxist-Leninist literature, while serving long jail sentences. A minority section, adhering to the ideology of Communist International broke away from the Anushilan movement and joined the Communist Consolidation, and later the Communist Party of India (CPI), which got divided in the post-independence period, hence bringing birth the CPI(M). The core section of the Anushilan Marxists, however, adopted Marxist-Leninist thinking. They later joined the Congress Socialist Party (CSP), formed by some Left-wing elements within the Congress to which the CPI branded as "social fascist". And these core believers of Anushilan Marxism formed the Revolutionary Socialist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), which evolved into the Revolution Socialist Party (RSP).

It was the Anushilan Marxism, which termed the dogmatic political lines adopted by the Comintern Congress of Communist International held in 1928 as "ultra-Left sectarian". The Comintern Congress called upon the Communists to combat the "national-reformist leaders" and to "unmask national reformism". The Anushilan Marxists termed it as a betrayal of the internationalist character of the Comintern -- which acted as an agency of Soviet foreign policy. This speaks volumes that in the belief that Anushilan Marxists, socialism and nationalism went side by side.

Those were the chapters from the History. At present, RSP is a small Left party. Now, it no more subscribes to the ideals of Anushilan Marxism. And in a bid to make its presence felt in the political glossary of the country, the party has taken the 'onerous task' of 'saving' Indian Socialism by joining terror elements like Maoists. But the moot question is: Will the RSP succeed in carving a parallel Left Front?

-- Published in Oped page of The Pioneer on June 18 2008

Depriving States of their riches

The National Mineral Policy does gross injustice to mineral-rich States, explains Saswat Panigrahi

The National Mineral Policy, 2008, which was recently tabled in the Rajya Sabha, has violated the interests of the five mineral-rich States -- Orissa, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand. These States do not have a mining policy of their own. They regulate their mining industries in concurrence with the Centre.

The concept of stand-alone mining, as stated in the NMP 2008, does not put emphasis on value addition within the State, thereby limiting its role in attracting investments. It has also reduced the scope for generation of employment opportunities and fetch of revenue for the State.

Going ahead with the Hoda Committee recommendations, the policy has suggested seamless transition from reconnaissance permit to prospecting licence and further to mining lease for bulk minerals, which would deny the State an opportunity to promote mineral-based industry within its boundary. Moreover, the policy has no provision for phasing out export of minerals and allowing captive mining for industries located within the mineral-based State. The policy also arrests the State's right to select the best applicants. In addition, it also usurps their security of tenure.

The National Mineral Policy assumes greater significance in view of its relevance in promoting the economy of the State where mineral activities are seen as a succour to hundreds of thousands of families.

Orissa, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand -- where agriculture is in a moribund condition -- are virtually eying to cash in on their mineral deposits. But these States have repeatedly been deprived from getting their due from the Centre on their mineral resources during the tenure of UPA Government. The States cannot even bargain on the royalty and export duty of various minerals provided by the Centre. Their share is merely confined to the current tonnage and quality based royalty, which are paying these States meagrely.

Orissa can be a case in point. It occupies a prominent place in the country's mineral map for its abundant mineral reserves. With 24.8 per cent of India's coal reserves, 32.95 per cent of iron ore, 59.95 per cent of bauxite deposits, 98.4 per cent of chromite and 67.6 per cent of manganese, Orissa can be named as the "mineral State" of the country. But the Centre is depriving it from gaining access to its fundamental mineral right. The State has been losing hundreds of crores of revenue due to the delay in revision of royalty on minerals by the Union Government. And the National Mineral Policy is yet another step to affect the economy of the State.

Orissa's Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik sees foreign hand behind the national mineral policy. "It seems to be heavily influenced by the international mining lobby which has recently earned huge profit due to favourable market conditions," Mr Patnaik said in the floor of the Assembly.

On the contrary, the Centre claims that the National Mineral Policy will attract investment to the tune of $250 million annually in the next five years. The policy harps on Foreign Direct Investment, which is its focal point. But the stark reality is that the over-emphasis on attracting FDI in mining will result in a situation where few multinational mining companies will bend upon the vast mineral resources of the country, which are essentially meant for the domestic consumption.

Mineral is a finite resource. It cannot be exported just for earning foreign resources. But the NMP speaks the other way round.

By depriving the States from getting their share from their own natural resources, the Congress-led UPA Government is playing politics over the wealth of the States and the nation as well. The move smacks of appeasing the foreign investors. By ignoring the States' concern, the policy violates the federal structure of the Constitution.

Ironically, the policy has been approved in principle by the Union Cabinet without addressing the concerns of the Chief Ministers of the mineral-rich States. The Centre's repeated negligence has disappointed the people, creating discontent among them. The dissonance is creating a louder din. The UPA Government will pay for it in the next general election, say political observers.

-- Published in the Oped page of The Pioneer on May 30, 2008

Detect, deport Bangladeshis

Saswat Panigrahi

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs has noted that the presence of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants poses a grave threat to the nation's internal security. This has, once again, brought the issue of illegal immigration from Bangladesh to the fore.

Illegal immigration from Bangladesh into Assam and West Bengal, apart from other border States in the North-East, has been going on since the days when that country was known as East Pakistan. Bangladeshi immigrants are not only confined to these States alone. Their numbers have been recorded at 5.4 million in West Bengal, four million in Assam, 0.5 million in Bihar, 1.5 million in Delhi, 0.8 million in Tripura, 0.5 million in Rajasthan and 0.5 million in Maharashtra. Most of them have been able to secure ration cards, driving licences, voter identity cards and even PAN cards, thanks to vote-bank politics and minority appeasement.

With the population of Bangladeshi immigrants increasing, the crime rate of the country has shown an upward trend. According to media reports, robberies in Kolkata are by and large committed by Bangladeshis. In Purnea, Katihar, Araria and Kishenganj districts of Bihar, they indulge in smuggling and other mafia activities. In Punjab, they are active in organ trade rackets.

More dangerously, Bangladeshi immigrants have links with several terrorist outfits operating within and outside the country. Intelligence agencies have repeatedly pointed out how some terrorist groups have been recruiting Bangladeshis to spread mayhem in India. The Parliamentary Standing Committee has also cited this fact.

The presence of Bangladeshis is slowly draining the resources of the country, besides posing a grave threat to its demographic structure. At least 90 per cent of the total encroached forest land in Assam is found to be under the control of Bangladeshi immigrants. They are present in substantial numbers in as many as 50 of Assam's 126 Assembly constituencies. The report submitted by Lt Gen SK Sinha, the then Governor of Assam, stated: "Large-scale illegal immigration from Bangladesh over decades has been altering the demographic complexion of Assam."

This is not a humanitarian issue but related to India's security and demographic stability. Sadly, successive Governments have shown little interest in finding a solution to this problem.

-- Published in the Edit page, The Pioneer, April 28, 2008

Union budget painted with communal colour

Saswat Panigrahi

Playing a communal card, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has doubled the allocation of the Ministry of minority affairs from Rs 500 crore in 2007-08 to Rs 1,000 crore in 2008-09. It’s the only department to register a 100 per cent increase in allocation of funds. Moving ahead with UPA’s commitment to speedy implementation of the Sachar Committee recommendation, the Union Budget 2008-09 has announced drawing up of a multi-sectoral development plan exclusively for each of the 90 minority concentration districts, which will cost the national exchequer a whopping Rs 3,780 crore.

More over, a pre-metric scholarship scheme has been announced exclusively for the minority – by allocating as much as Rs 80 crore from next year. Another Rs 45.45 crore has been approved for modernising of madarsa education from the next fiscal. The UPA Government has also decided to recruit more candidates belonging to the minority communities to the Central para-military forces in the coming fiscal.

The overtone of communal appeasement reminds me PM Manmohan Singh’s ‘Muslim first’ assertion. While addressing the national development council meeting last year, PM said, "We will have to devise innovative plans to ensure that minorities, particularly the Muslim minority, are empowered to share equitably in the fruits of development. They must have the first claim on resources."

And as the Finance Minister P Chidambaram has rightly emulated PM’s assertion -- by allocating benefits on religion lines -- hence adding to yet another chapter of UPA’s communal appeasement.

It is indeed pertinent to mention here that UPA in a crude attempt at Muslim appeasement formed Sachar Committee. In the pretext of going into the social, economic and educational status of Muslims, the notorious report of the committee by its very genesis has been exposed of disseminating such irresponsible propaganda.

This is a fact that a vast section of Muslims are reeling from poverty. Election comes and goes. Nurturing vote bank politics Congress rides to power. And for the congress party the plight of the indigent Muslims never cease to make the rounds. As soon as the poll ends, it put in the cold storage to be used in the future election.

Being busy in polarizing votes in a poll hue the UPA has forgotten the truth that there are crores of people in the country living in miserable conditions. The first claim on resources should be of those section.

These poverty stricken people can't be divided in communal lines for the shake of votes. Muslim's issue can't be excluded from the development process. And by separating Muslim issue from the rest UPA has nurtured a communal divide. By promoting one community over another, the UPA Government incites communal sentiments, which distorts the national spirit.

-- Published in msn.co.in on March 14, 2008

Why do they hate her so?

Saswat Panigrahi

Driven out of West Bengal after Left Front chairman Biman Bose indirectly declared her as persona non grata -- "if Ms Taslima Nasreen's stay disturbs the atmosphere of peace in the State, she must leave," Mr Bose had said -- the dissident Bangladeshi writer has already spent three weeks in virtual house arrest in an undisclosed place in Delhi.

It's not only the Left Front Government of West Bengal that bowed before violent Islamic fundamentalists on the rampage in Kolkata, the UPA Government hasn't shown any spine to stand beside the beleaguered woman either -- both eyeing the Muslim vote-bank. A stoic Congress-led Government at the Centre has said it is ready to provide shelter to Ms Nasreen, but expects the writer to refrain from activities and expressions that may "hurt the sentiments of the people".

"Those given shelter in India have always undertaken to eschew political activities in India or any actions which may harm India's relations with friendly countries. It is also expected that the guests will refrain from activities and expressions that may hurt the sentiments of our people." This statement read in Parliament by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, in an oblique reference to Ms Nasreen, smacks of appeasement of the fundamentalist forces.

If Ms Nasreen's prospect of returning to her home country Bangladesh is remote, her chances of returning to Kolkata in the milieu of her linguistic community of Bengalis are dim. This, despite her decision to delete three 'objectionable' pages from her autobiography Dwikhandita. For the first time in the country, a famous woman writer has been disgraced due to vote-bank politics. In doing so, pseudo-secularist Union and State Governments have suavely brushed aside the Indian philosophy of "atithi dewo bhawa" (a guest is godly). This is a dishonour to the Indian culture as well.

A woman is being disrespected by two 'secular' fundamentalist Governments that have, on another front, failed to deport Bangladeshi infiltrators who pose a serious threat to national security. Come election, these political parties shamelessly compete with each other for a bigger share of the illegal immigrants' vote-bank pie.

A defenceless woman, who showed rare courage to speak out against growing Islamic fundamentalism, has come in the way of the UPA and Left Front Government's greed for votes.

-- Published in the Edit page of The Pioneer on December 23, 2007

Stars are witness to Lord Ram

Saswat Panigrahi

By denying the authenticity of the Ramayan, the 'secularists' have not only hurt Hindu sentiments, but also rebuffed history. They have questioned the existence of an icon of Hinduism whose exploits have been woven into the epic by Valmiki whose account can be corroborated from other sources.

The method of time measurement on the basis of the movement of the Sun and other planets of the universe, in vogue in the ancient period, were recorded by the scholars of that era. When we flip through the pages of the Ramayan, astronomical references to the datelines related to the life and times of Lord Ram are found. Valmiki mentions the location of planets vis-?-vis the zodiac signs, on the basis of which it can be concluded that Ramayan is a true story.

A large number of places replete with historic and scientific evidence bear testimony to the events of the epic. Ram Setu is a bridge that connected Rameshwaram to Sri Lanka. The vaanar sena constructed the bridge to reach the island in order to rescue Lord Ram's abducted wife Sita from Ravan.

The unique historical incident is also backed by evidence brought out by the Department of Earth Sciences of India. A report dated March 2007 states that near Rameshwaram, the 'teri' formation supported a rich compilation of mesolithic and microlithic matters, which is evidence of human activity in these areas as early as 8,000 to 9,000 years ago and as recent as 4,000 years ago.

Ramayan is a part of that history which talks about the culture not only of our country, but also Sri Lanka, Nepal, Indonesia, Thailand, Bali, Philippines, Cambodia and Myanmar. But political fundamentalists like Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi are questioning the very existence of Lord Ram, thus justifying a proposed destruction of Ram Setu - a structure symbolising the essence of our culture. By saying, "We see only Adam's bridge, no Ram Setu", these leaders wilfully ignore the sacred tradition that has woven the diverse cultures of the sub-continent since time immemorial.

As per section 295(a) of the Indian Penal Code, no one can hurt the religious beliefs of any community, and failure to comply with the law may lead to three years of rigorous imprisonment and fine or both depending upon the seriousness of the issue. Why shouldn't the offenders be punished on the charge of violating the law?

-- Published in the Edit page of The Pioneer on October 10, 2007