How Congress protests

The Congress may attack the BJP for its lack of parliamentary etiquette but in the Odisha Assembly it is guilty of doing the same.

 

In Delhi, the Congress bitterly blamed the BJP for the near-total disruption of the Monsoon Session of Parliament over the coal block allocation scam. So much so, that even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh – who normally leaves squabbles with the BJP-led opposition for the party spokespersons to comment upon – called upon his "countrymen to decide if this is way to work in a functioning democracy". "What we have witnessed is a total negation of that," he said.

 

The PM’s comments had not even sunk in when on September 6, his party activists chose to throw "functioning democracy" to the winds and let violence loose in Odisha. This time too, the trigger was "Coalgate".

 

A mob of Congress activists, reportedly led by senior party leader and state in-charge Jagdish Tytler, tried to storm the Odisha Assembly, unleashing violence that has badly shaken the party.

 

It is evident from the Congress' diatribe in Parliament and action in Odisha that in Indian politics, strange, convenient allies do ethics and democracy make. It also laid bare the Congress frustration in the state from which it was ousted over a decade ago.

 

Can the Congress bank upon a change of its Odisha fortunes in the near future? At least the "Call-for-Change" bandh has boomeranged to hit the Congress where it hurts most.

 

For those who missed the real action, on September 6, the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) convened a massive rally with the intention to gherao the state Assembly during the session then on. With the prime agenda of "Naveen Hatao, Odisha Bachao (Oust Naveen, Save Odisha)", the rally had an impressive turnout – 50,000 Congress workers from all corners of the state.

 

Ahead of the rally, OPCC chief Niranjan Patnaik said: "After 12 years of rule of Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the state is still languishing and is at the bottom of the performance table among states, in terms of social and economic indicators. We demand inclusive growth in jobs, education, and healthcare for all. We need to get rid of the neglect, incompetence, and corruption of the past 12 years. Our rally is a call for change."

 

So, where did the situation become ugly?

 

Senior journalist Prashant Patnaik, an eyewitness to the rally and a resident of Mahatma Gandhi Marg, just minutes’ walk from the state Assembly, says, "The situation was contained as the massive gathering listened peacefully to the firebrand speeches of leaders. But the scenario changed soon after Jagdish Tytler’s provocative speech. In his address, he rallied: 'We are here to gherao the state Assembly. Let's move forward'."

 

Patnaik says all hell broke loose after that as a section of the gathered crowd rushed towards the Assembly. The rest followed suit. In no time the rallyists had uprooted the barricades and clashed with the police. The police retaliated, opening up with a water cannon to push them back and even fired some teargas shells, but the rallyists kept advancing.

 

"The police then began a baton charge and, to some extent, even succeeded in pushing the crowd back, away from the barricade," says the senior scribe.

 

But that was only a minor calm before a storm. For, the rallyists regrouped and surged ahead again, this time pelting stones and attacking the police personnel. The agitators, some of them armed with bamboo poles, chased the police forcing them to retreat.

 

"I saw someone push a lady constable. Under the combined weight of a lifejacket and rest of her protection gear, she fell down. A section of the mob, armed with bamboo poles, surrounded the woman and began raining blows on her mercilessly. This continued for about 10 minutes before some other Congress workers intervened and rescued the constable," recalls Patnaik.

 

Does this mob fury unleashed indicate a central Congress leader spoiling the scene for the state party? Of all that happened on the fateful day, what's fuelled Congress detractors' ire most, not only in Odisha but rest of the country, is the assault on woman cop Pramila Padhy.

 

Hospitalised with severe leg and head injuries, Padhy says, "I want the culprits to be punished. I have heard the Congress leadership has apologised for the incident but no apology can reduce my pain."

 

Troubles for the Congress in the state seem to be only escalating after the September 6 incident. State Constable Federation president Padmanav Behera says, "We have demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident and that the culprits be brought to book at the earliest.”

 

The ruling BJD, along with the Biju Yuva Janata Dal, Biju Mahila Janata Dal and Biju Chhatra Dal, has held a well attended dharna, demanding severe "punishment" for Padhy's attackers.

 

The State Commission for Women has already begun a probe into the assault, while the Odisha Human Rights Commission has sought a report on the incident from the state police. Even the National Commission for Women (NCW) says it will send a delegation to Odisha to investigate the attack on the cop.

 

That Odisha is a tough battle for the Congress is evident from the division within on the September 6 violence. Even as the demand for the arrest of Tytler grows for allegedly instigating the rally to violence and OPCC pleads lack of knowledge of Hindi among the people in the state leading to the clash, Congress’s own maverick Digvijay Singh has gone on record demanding action against the party workers who had assaulted the woman constable.

 

Embroiled nationally as it is in scams, economic upheavals, allegations of misgovernance and inflation, the Congress will need to put in place a massive firefighting exercise if it wants its "Call-for-Change" campaign back on track in Odisha. For one, Naveen Patnaik is a formidable rival, given that he is the CM twice over and his party enjoys a definite advantage over others. Secondly, Congress has to be careful how it brings the "Coalgate" issue to the state, lest it be exposed as a party with double standards. Certainly, the September 6 rally-turned-clash is no option to experiment with.

 

dhrutikam.mohanty@thesundayindian.com