The Fabric Whiteners

Perhaps you will never come across a politician as lucky as Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik. The national media has given him the longest rope it has given any leader. Naveen’s role has never come under the scanner—not after the 2008 anti-Christian riots in Kandhamal, the illegal coal block allocations, the humungous loot of Orissa’s mineral resources or the ponzi schemes that flourised under the government’s patronage. The English press simply loves English-speaking politicians and if, like Naveen, they have a lineage to boast of, nothing like it. What has helped Naveen—or Pappu, as he is fondly called—stay in the good books of the national media even after 17 years in the middle of dirty politics is his past as a socialite who frequented the most elite joints in Delhi and rubbed shoulders with the high and mighty. His circle included politicians across the spectrum, media barons and star journalists, activists and lawyers. His Doon school tag and his days in Rome and New York as an author of sorts pla­ces him in a privileged category.

For these reasons, he enjoys the kind of clout a Nitish Kumar, Mamata Banerjee or for that matter Narendra Modi cannot hope to. Despite rioters in Kandhamal having a free run, Naveen is seen as beyond reproach. No one asked him why provokers and perpetrators of violence in Kandhamal went unchecked for a full month. No one asked him either why he hasn’t expressed his views on the Gujarat riots. Recently, the CBI inquired into allocation of coal blocks in Orissa to the Aditya Birla Group. In its closure report, it said Naveen played a decisive role in cancelling the allocation of the Talabira coal block to a state-owned PSU and handing it to the Aditya Birla Group. It grilled the investor and many senior bureaucrats. But no questions for Naveen—neither from the CBI nor from the media. To those who cursorily take in the national newspapers and TV channels, there’s only one chit-fund scam: the Saradha Group and its business in West Bengal. No one knows of the many ponzi and dubious financial schemes in operation in Orissa, where Saradha too is a player. Many of these schemes operate with the support of the government. In preliminary inquiries by the CBI, some of the accused have spilled the beans on powerful ministers, leaders and babus being beneficiaries. Does anyone outside Orissa hear of this? Nope.

The mining scam in Orissa is far bigger than the Karnataka and Goa mining scams put together. The Justice M.B. Shah Commission estimated the loss to Orissa’s exchequer at Rs 60,000 crore. It indicted the state government, politicians and bureaucrats and said only a CBI inquiry could fully uncover the large-scale loot of mineral resources. But the state government insists a CBI inquiry is not required, as state agencies are investigating all irregularities and steps are being taken to prevent recurrence. Like the UPA regime, the present NDA regime at the Centre too is inclined to go soft on Naveen and buy his arguments. You call it politics, I call it luck. Talk of Lady Luck hand-holding the bachelor through 14 years of rule as chief minister, the Supreme Court’s order for CBI probe into the chit fund scam, the appearance of the Shah Commission report in the public domain, the huge land-grab scams—everything happened only after the last general election was over. But now, Naveen’s kingdom is in a mess and he is at a loss to defend his carefully manufactured image of a member of the mythical clan of clean politicians. In the local media, however, his clean image is being put to the test, thanks to his cunning silence over rather serious allegations and hard evidence of greedy acquisition of property and illegal grabbing of forest land by ministers, former ministers, MPs, MLAs and bureaucrats perceived to be close to him.

There was a time the Biju Patnaik scion would sack senior cabinet ministers at the drop of a hat and order the strongest punitive action against party leaders and bureaucrats over even unsubstantiated allegations of corruption. Anyone under the shadow of corruption was punished heavily and care was taken to ensure maximum publicity in the media. That system is no longer in operation. But with luck, and with the national media looking away, Naveen could well reincarnate himself in a new avatar, sooner rather than later, reading out a list of those guilty—including some sacrificial goats—of daring to sully his clean, clean kurta. And sign off with a statement about his commitment to clean, value-based politics.

Cynicism? Negativity? Come and spend a month in Ori­ssa and you will know what I mean.

(The writer is a senior journalist based in Bhubaneshwar.)