Relief in Orissa

The good news from Orissa is that Chief Minister Janaki Ballab Patnaik has resigned. In doing so he has owned “moral responsibility” for the series of attacks and killings of individuals belonging to the Christian community. Many of these incidents could, perhaps, have been averted if only he had put in his papers some months earlier. His continuance in office had become untenable, politically since the 1998 Lok Sabha election when the Biju Janata Dal-BJP alliance won 16 out of 21 seats and morally, since Anjana Mishra was gangraped a month ago. But he refused to own up responsibility even when half his Cabinet reportedly `resigned’ in the wake of the Congress’ rout. He dismissed the rebellion as a storm in the teacup. His response was similarly nonchalant when the whole nation was shocked by the gangrape. Instead of letting the law and order machinery come down heavily on the rapists and their instigators, if any, he raised questions about Mishra’s need to travel on that fateful night and the route thatshe chose. There’s no doubt his insensitivity bordered on the criminal, leading many to conclude that he did not want the truth to come out.

That Patnaik, whose middle name could have been survival — he has completed 12 years in office spread over three terms — did not exercise a grip on law and order in the state was proved when the Australian missionary Graham Stewart Staines and his two sons were torched to death. While it is for Justice D.P. Wadhwa to conclude whether the killings were the handiwork of the Bajrang Dal or not, the point that his government had failed to restrain Dara Singh, who had been taking the law into his own hands against the minority communities, cannot be lost sight of. Not only has Patnaik been unable to arrest Singh, he has not even been able to deter those of Singh’s ilk. Within a fortnight of that event, a nun belonging to the Daughters of Charity was attacked at Baripada. Even before the people could recover from the shock of this incident, came the killing of two youth atMandasore in Kandhamal district. As Minorities Commission chairman Tahir Mahmood has pointed out, Patnaik all through this period kept arguing that two or three incidents did not constitute a breakdown of law and order. His plea was akin to the skewed argument trotted out by his Gujarat counterpart, Keshubhai Patel, that the churches burnt down in his state were just thatched huts used for worship. Obviously, Patnaik didn’t take cognisance of the fear psychosis gripping the minorities and the general revulsion it caused.

The belated resignation would not have come about but for party chief Sonia Gandhi seeking it. It is curious that she has asked for his resignation when her party had, a few weeks ago, hastened to clarify that the Congress had not called for the resignation of Keshubhai Patel. The inescapable conclusion is that it is political compulsion that has forced her hands. With Orissa slated to go to polls later this year, she knows how crucial a victory in the state is to bring the Congress back topower at the Centre. It is a different matter that such a change of guard may not yield the desired result as the BJP realised in Delhi in the recent Assembly election. All this does not, however, detract from the sense of relief Patnaik’s resignation brings to the people.