Damodar ‘Mani Shankar’ Rout puts BJD in a Fix

ONI Bureau: There should not be confusion with the headline. Yes, he is Dr. Damodar Rout, but ‘Mani Shankar’ was deliberately added to his name by the writer to find a striking similarity between him and Congress’ Mani Shankar Iyer. Both motormouth leaders are turning Achilles’ heel of their respective parties.

When it comes to putting the party in a difficult and embarrassing situation and creating a divide in the society, thus giving the rivals a long rope, Mani Shankar Iyer leads from the front. And, now Dr. Rout, still a Minister in Odisha Cabinet, is giving him a tough fight.

His recent statement that ‘Brahmins are Bheek Mangas (Beggars)” has created a stir in Odisha, prompting BJP to rake up the issue. As BJP is usually considered closer to the upper caste, the party does not want to lose this opportunity to target BJD Government and CM Naveen Patnaik, who are busy polarising people on the issue of Mahanadi.

Dama Rout, while trying to woo the tribal voters during the Malyabant Festival in Malkangiri, made this outrageous statement, which did not go down well with the Brahmins in the state, even in his own party, who think it was just ‘unwarranted’ and could have been avoided.

Despite the controversy, Damodar Rout remained defiant and refused to apologise, saying he did not commit any mistakes. Even, priests at Puri Jagannath Temple and Lingaraj Temple took strong exception to his remarks.

Six years ago, the veteran leader turned dissident after being sidelined by the party in his own district and floated a new political outfit – Biju Vichar Manch. He also dared to invite CM Naveen Patnaik to the event although the BJD supremo snubbed him. It was then a battle between Dama and Pyari, the parallel power centre, who sought to trigger political death of many BJD leaders, including Dama.

However, Dama Rout managed to ward off that storm and emerged stronger again on May 29, 2012 when Pyari staged a political coup in Naveen’s absence. Dama used his experience and expertise to bring the situation under control and won back Naveen Patnaik’s trust.

Much water has flowed under the bridge since then. Although he continued to be part of Naveen Patnaik’s Cabinet, of late, he has emerged as a motor mouth leader within the party and set off tremors on various occasions. When it comes to attacking BJP leaders, Dama leads from the front always. But, his controversial statements put the party as well as its leader on the back foot.

In the recent months, Dama Rout caused more damage to the party than the opposition with four statements which he could have avoided. First, he sent shock waves in the political circle, openly endorsing an alliance between BJD and Congress to stop BJP in Odisha. While BJP used this to target the ruling party, a wrong message went to the public that BJD is completely rattled and nervous; so contemplating alliance with a party which it loathed for long.

Senior BJD leaders as well as party supremo Naveen Patnaik had to do a firefighting to convince people that there won’t be any direct or indirect alliance with any party and that BJD would go alone in the next elections. However, the damage was already done and a public perception has been created, which is not in the best interest of the party.

If that was not enough, Dama Rout dropped another bombshell with his ‘Swami Chhadi, Anganwadi’ remark. While he sought to hit back at BJP leader Lekhashree Samantsinghar for her “Shikhandi” and “Dhritarashtra” remarks using an Odia proverb, it completely backfired and triggered a massive outrage. Even senior BJD Ministers objected to his statement. Although Dama Rout had to express regret and tender apology to douse the fire, yet again the damage was done. Even CM Naveen Patnaik publicly disapproved his remarks.

But, Dama did not stop there and scored a hat-trick with another controversial remark that farmers, who had torched their pest-affected crops, including deceased Brunda Sahu, won’t get any compensation. As expected, the Cabinet led by CM Naveen Patnaik overruled him and decided that all farmers would get compensation without bias.

Then came his controversial statement that Jayee Rajguru was not a freedom fighter. Even CM Naveen Patnaik disapproved his statement and publicly endorsed Jayee Rajguru as the first freedom fighter from Odisha. But, Dama Rout did not relent and stuck to his stand. And, now came the anti-Brahmin statement!

Is Dama turning out to be a liability for the party now? Does he already know that this could be his last term as a MLA? There was a clamour in the party for his removal as the Minister. But, as we know Naveen always keeps his cards close to his chest and plays those at the right time. He knows well when and where to hit. He gets things right when it matters the most.