Baijayant made Scapegoat; Focus shifted from Kunduli

ONI Bureau: He won the ‘Aadarsh Mukhyamantri Puraskar’ by MIT School of Government at 8th Bharatiya Chhatra Sansad in Pune on January 21. Media and his supporters went crazy. He arrived in Bhubaneswar next day to a Hero’s welcome. Massive arrangements were made, TV space was booked. But, a shocking news from Kunduli marred his celebrations.

Suicide by Kunduli ‘gangrape’ victim made CM Naveen Patnaik speechless. The ‘Ideal Chief Minister Award’ backfired. People started mocking and taunting it. Media, Social Media as well as Intelligentsia started questioning him. BJP upped the ante and Congress woke up from the deep slumber. Even, the front page advertisements on Daily Newspapers could not help.

And, Congress with its 12-hour Odisha Bandh and BJP with its dawn-to-dusk Hartal compounded his problem. “Will Kunduli spread like a bushfire? Will we witness a repetition of situation occurred during the JB era? I am worried”, he probably said to his Officer, who was quick to suggest a remedy. “Let’s find a scapegoat”. Who? Oh yeah!!! Both had smile on their face. And, the script has been written.

Here comes the announcement! ‘Kendrapara MP Baijayant Panda suspended from the primary membership of the BJD’…

Charges? “He has been directly and indirectly indulging in activities aimed at weakening BJD, whether it is the Parliament, State, Constituency or media space, no opportunity was missed by Panda to criticise BJD and eulogize the opposition. He did not campaign for party candidates in panchayat polls. He campaigned for opposition candidates”….Oh Really! Why you kept ignoring this for long? Don’t you think 12 months were enough to cause further damage to the party? But, who cares….

And, wait! More is coming! They already hinted at action against IMFA! They talk about the ‘loan waiver’, which was probably made long ago by the same government and same leader. If that was illegal, why it was allowed and why no action taken earlier? And, even his ‘Office of Profit’ issue was listed as one of the reasons for his suspension.

Now question for Media! Will you pursue Kunduli victim’s suicide? “Forget… We would be busy in covering Jay Panda’s suspension and then Bijepur”. So, what about justice for Kunduli victim? “Please don’t disturb us. We have better things to cover now. We sympathise with the victim though. We did whatever we could”. Ohhhh…. So, it’s all over. Silence…

Sir, all done… Attention successfully diverted. Mission Successful. Now, we can have a sound sleep! He is gone! Opposition silenced. Media attention diverted. What else you need Sir? Nothing… But, I regret I did not get the attention I deserved on January 22!!!!! Destiny!!!