ODISHA CONGRESS IN DEEP FRUSTRATION

    Bikash Choudhury 

UPA chairperson & Congress President before leaving abroad exhorted her Member of Parliament and party cadres to be offensive against opposition or more specifically for BJP with their vocal cord; rootless, listless and leaderless Congress Party in Odisha understood that for blanket mandate for violence for which their leader would remain answerable at a later point of time. 6^th September 2012 Congress rally at Bhubaneswar turned violent and poor police men and women were at the receiving end of their fury in full public view and camera glare. The timing and scale of violence perpetrated by Congress activists proves violence were pre-meditated, planned and incited by their leaders to present the union Govt. with a law and order situation to clamp Presidents’ rule; however, Congress managers failed miserably and measurably with pants down as the National media peaked up their entire antiques and telecasted in the prime time news. Odisha Police managed to keep their cool and restraint in the face of great provocation which put paid to, otherwise Congress plan to sacrifice the lives of innocent workers; who would never come to know the design of their leaders. As the Congress leaders would have understood by now; that, this unruly incident would not go unanswered in the court of people of Odisha as and when next election takes place. UPA II led by Congress has lost the mandate by half to rule at the centre and in the State of Odisha it would have lost mandate to remain the principal opposition by larger than half or little more; it just remains to be seen, how many Congress candidates would loose their deposits. The forward looking socio-economic policies of Naveen Patnaik Govt. and its emphasis on tribal up-liftment in north & south Odisha would certainly rob Congress of its traditional support base further down hill leaving the party high and dry. Therefore, the entire Congress leadership in the State is deeply frustrated and entirely clueless. There is a need of an active opposition in the State as an oversight mechanism over the Govt.; I wish to offer two suggestions to State Congress. One, they should choose a young, thinking leader and a man of letters for themselves and two, they should think of a constructive program to gain the confidence and trust of ordinary voters. Congress, which swears in the name of Gandhi and Nehru, certainly can’t regain its lost laurels with the help of senseless violence and rowdies in the State.