Unsafe at home

Orissa’s IT minister and the youngest member of the Naveen Patnaik’s ministry is again in the news for the wrong reasons.

Ramesh Chandra Majhi, 31, hit the headlines six months ago when he cleared the Class 12 examination with flying colours, securing first class marks.

This soft-spoken and usually reticent minister is in the news again, this time for a most unusual reason. He has been reportedly advised by the local police not to go to his village Dandamunda, situated in Maoist-hit Nawrangpur district of Orissa, which is in close proximity to the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh.

The advice has raised huge security concerns. Why should a minister of the state, virtually the government himself, be advised not to enter his village? Is his village so severely prone to Maoist violence that the entire might of the state apparatus cannot provide security to a key representative of the state government?

Though the district police authorities  assert that no such advisory has been issued, sources close to the minister confirm the he has indeed been advised not to visit his village.

Said a local police officer on condition of anonymity, “After the brutal killing of ruling party MLA Jagabandhu Majhi and his personal security officer last month, we have been instructed to strictly follow security guidelines about providing proper protection to public representatives.

The minister was advised not to go to his native place a few days ago because a group of Maoists had raided the house of a ruling party legislator of Chhatisgarh in his village Mungapadar, which is 20 kilometers from the minister’s village.”

On September 24, Jagabandhu Majhi, ruling Biju Janata Dal’s MLA from the Umerkot assembly seat in Nabarangpur district, and his personal security officer, P. K. Patro, were shot dead by three unidentified men while distributing pattas (land ownership documents) to landless tribals at Gona village of Raighar block at a public function.

Nineteen days later, the CPI (Maoist) claimed through a local daily that they eliminated the MLA because he had  tarnished the image of Maoists by collecting money and getting people killed in their names.

Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik ordered a crime branch (CB) probe of the killing. Preliminary investigations revealed that the local police was not informed about the public meeting attended by the slain legislator, though it was part of the security drill.

“I have not been totally restricted to visit my village. I returned to Bhubaneswar this week after spending more than a week at different places in my constituency. I also visited my village,” Ramesh Majhi said when TSI asked him about the local police’s advisory.

A little reluctantly though, he clarified that a leading news daily had already published a news story. “They suggested that I do not go to the Chandahandi area for a particular period, which includes my village, as the situation was tense there. At the time, a group of Maoists had raided the house of BJP MLA Damrudhar Pujari at Mungapadar in the Raipur district of Chhatisgarh.

Police then suspected that Maoists may have come to Chandahandi area as Pujari’s in-laws stay there and the place is barely five to six kilometre from Chhattisgarh border.”

Police sources confirm that a group of about 40 Maoists, including their women cadres, had attacked the house of BJP MLA Damrudhar Pujari on the night of October 11.

The attackers took away the service revolver and some cartridges of the MLA’s personal security officer. Though the legislator was present, he managed to escape unhurt.

Mungapadar is about 30 KM from the Gona village in Raighar block where Jagabandhu Majhi was gunned down. Investigators now suspect that the Mungapadar incident may have links with the murder of the Orissa MLA.

Clarifies Nitin Sekhar, superintendent of police Nawrangpur, “The police had not exactly restricted the minister to go to his village but cautioned him not to make night halts there. We also advised him to stay as short as possible in his native place. This is necessary from security point of view.”

But Majhi is not amused. “I could never have imagined that the situation in my district will worsen to such an extent. Though neighbouring districts had been affected by Maoist violence, Nawrangpur was an exception as its terrain is not hilly. I remember, my father Yadav Majhi, a minister in Biju Patnaik’s cabinet, moved freely across the districts and used to return home late in the night. I have done the same since I entered public life at 20 when elected as member of Dhodipani Panchayat Samiti in January 1997.”

Nawrangpur, a major centre for maize production in the country, was once a peaceful tribal-dominated district of Orissa. But things have changed. “During school days, I played cricket matches and my team travelled to different places near my village and even to some places in Chhattisgarh. But after the advent of Maoists, I have noticed people abstain from extra-curricular activities. In remote areas, people prefer to come back home before sunset.”

According to police officials, the Orissa-Chhattisgarh border area of Nawrangpur has now turned into a safe haven for Maoists.

The Mainpur Divisional Committee (MDC) of the CPI (Maoist) operates in the area covering Nabarangpur’s Chandahandi, Raighar, Kundai and Umerkote areas and Raipur, Bastar, Dhamantari districts of Chhattisgarh.

Says Bhujabal Majhi, MLA of Dabugaon constituency of Nawrangpur, “The general public is in panic. Even the police is not free from this fear-psychosis.

The state government should take stringent steps against Maoists to get back the confidence of people and peace in the district.”

A former general secretary of the All India Youth Congress and MP from Nawrangpur constituency Pradeep Majhi comments caustically, “When a minister of a state can not go to his village or stay at his home, then what can be said about the condition of a common man?

 “When a person with the highest category of security has been advised by the police not to move freely in his native area, it indicates the level of danger. Is this governance? This is a worst outcome of Naveen Patnaik government’s apathy towards Maoist problem.”

Good questions to ask even if there are no immediate answers available.