By Biswaraj Patnaik in Puri, January 25, 2018: The little girl of ‘Kunduli’ attracted everybody’s sympathy, in life and more so when gone in a strange manner. The rape event still remains a big mystery. It is plain common sense that no government would sit cool over the issue. The BJD government did its dutiful bit as much as any other most responsible government could have done. The innocent girl kept saying men in uniform committed the heinous crime. The police believably couldn’t have any intention of making the whole incident a ‘hush hush’ one.

Most unfortunately, the whole episode was so badly messed up by political communities that the real picture never emerged in public. The heartless self-serving political creatures, mostly from the opposition outfits, turned the little girl an ‘object of advantage’, an act more heinous than the crime itself. The little child had kept saying that the perpetrators were men in uniform.

And the whole world knows just too well that criminals, at times, don state ‘enforcement uniform’ to deceive and dupe victims and authorities alike. The little girl suffered immensely; but the political devils capitalised the issue to make hay. Not one character with a thinking head raised questions regarding which men in uniform did that most abominable job. There have been instances of insurgency outfit members committing such crimes donning uniform.

The little helpless girl seemed, at all times, to have been tutored, even in her unthinkable agony, to make statements against the state forces without any factual foundation. It’s also not believable that the government authorities would want to brush the issue under the carpet. They would rather do a top grade job to nab the crooks and make a name.

The people must recognise the fact that, the Naveen administration, no matter how tough it is to kill a home member, has invariably tossed out undesirable elements from the fold like trotting kids do pain-causing objects. If that be the usual culture, would a miniscule number of criminals from any enforcement be spared by the power that be?

Hence, the very allegation by the detractors and opponents that the state authorities were keen to protect criminals, or that they were not serious about the little girl’s life or reputation, is without logic and reason. Lately, the little helpless girl woke up one fine morning to allege that a DG came along to her, while in hospital and offered a bribe of 90000 rupees never to raise any more voice and go home for good. All hell had gone loose and the media vultures had a gala time with the make-believe sensation. The incumbent DG was stunned to hear the allegation. But extremely honest and firmly resolute that he is, he simply chose to remain quiet, knowing fully well the entire world was only having a good laugh over the mad drama by insane opponents.

The opponents have done disservice to the people of Odisha by calling an unlawful strike that has affected lives of everyone as there was not much time given even to remain prepared to stay indoors with food and life saving provisions. Travellers covering long distances have narrated terrible experiences of pain and woe as they got stuck without help with kids, the sick and the elderly. The opposition members with hired rioters, mostly mindless, have caused havoc.

Most shockingly, they grabbed the body of the deceased girl and used it as an inanimate object to attract public attention, which is an act of crime by all parameters. They placed it on the road to bring normal life to a halt and remain in news. Most media agencies, as usual, kept carrying news as if the state had turned anarchic and dysfunctional.

Needless to mention that the government has ordered a judicial investigation into the sensitive, least understood matter, which normally does not happen when other credible agencies like the Human Rights Commission and some other probe bodies have declared that the rape charge is not tenable as no trace of evidence to that effect has been traced after thorough and methodical study was conducted.

It is natural for the ordinary masses to suspect something is wrong mainly because of insensitive and irresponsible reporting by the media; but they have also figured out how the opponents resort to ant people methods to make political gains. The television bites by numerous ordinary people including students, dailywage workers, travellers and patients have indicated how terribly irked and irritated they are at the populist opposition parties for resorting to cheap and wrong ways of staging protest. Interestingly, no probe has pointed any finger at any state agency for having defaulted on job, or supressing facts for hiding devilish intentions.

Naveen Patnaik is obviously the target of all those kept out of power for decades. Some of them have been thrown to oblivion for not being in public life for long. A few of them are keen to join the magical ‘Naveen outfit’ after gaining wisdom that until Naveen is kicking around, no other force can come to power irrespective of their tricks, wealth or muscle might. Naveen has scored so highly in the minds of the people that even outclassing him on the popularity front is just impossible.

Further, they are regularly silenced by highly credible national agencies and rating outfits from among the media and academia that keep rating Naveen as a unique political leader with exceptional qualities. ‘India Today’, ‘Outlook’ and several statesmen-columnists have said unequivocally that Naveen is an enigmatic political personality without a parallel in the country – essentially because it is very difficult to decipher his superb inherent qualities that endears him to the masses. He is just not a routinely stereotype among the politicians of the presentday world.

They have termed him the ‘Best Chief Minister’, the ‘Best Administrator’ and the latest feather in his cap has just been conferred on him four days ago on the 21January by a leading, highly credible academic institution called the MIT World Peace University Campus, Kothrud in Pune. The university has declared him the most Ideal Chief Minister in India. The opponents and detractors have lost their sanity and sense over the conferment and gone berserk.

Srikant Jena, now a nondescript Congress last liner, has the stupid audacity to tell on television that Naveen is so crafty as to organise rewards and recognition for himself from fake organisations by paying a bribe and showing off at home. Jena has entered politics by bootlicking the legendary Biju Patnaik once upon a time and extracted the best of everything from the unsuspecting philanthropist by way of being promoted to the best of positions in the state and central executive as top minister.

But when it came to Biju Patnaik becoming the prime minister or a topmost commanding central minister, this ungrateful beneficiary conspired to have Biju defamed by spreading filthy rumours against the colossal legend among the top level guys. Biju, a die-hard lion of a human species, shed two drops of tear over the ‘backstabbing’ by the biggest beneficiary and protege, but never for losing out in the game of power. This rude, barren ingrate called ‘Jena’ lost everything in life except perhaps some money, and licked his own spit by joining the outfit he had openly declared lifelong enemy- the Congress party. Srikant, by a stroke of luck, had won the Balasore Lok Sabha seat only because Naveen’s party had desired so.

Just to educate the people, some facts about the great university which chose to reward Naveen:
• Hon’ble Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, former President of India gave away the award.
Chief Guest Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, eminent scientist, BJP leader, former Union Minister, Hon’ble Parliamentarian crowned Naveen personally.

At the great event, Naveen Patnaik was received by Dr Abhay Firodia, Chairman, Force Motors, Shri. Milind Deora, former Union Minister for Communications, IT & Shipping, Dr. Raghunath A. Mashelkar, Eminent Scientist, and Chief Guest of Honor Shri. Piyush Goyal, Hon’ble Union Minister.
A documentary film on  Naveen Patnaik was shown to the august gathering, apart from a grand citation read out by a celebrity anchor.

The Chief Patron of the University is Shri Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Other luminaries of the Board include :
• Chairman-T.N. Seshan, Former CEC, India
• President Dr R.A. Mashelkar, Research Professor, Eminent Scientist
Prof. Dr. Vishwanath D. Kard, Founder & Executive President
• Executive Chairman, Tushar Gandhi, President Mahatma Gandhi Foundation
• Anu Aga, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, Chairperson, Teach For India, Former Chairperson, Thermax
• Dr. Abhay Firodia, Chairman, Force Motors
• Dr. Rajeev Gowda, MP, Rajya Sabha, Former Prof.IIM
• Dr. Vinay Sahasrabudhe, MP, National Vice President BJP,
• Justice N. Santosh Hegde, Former Justice Supreme Court of India,
• Dr. Lobsang Sangay, Prime Minister of Tibetan Government-in-Exile, Dharamshala
• Mark Tully, Former Bureau Chief BBC, India
• Prof. S. Parasuraman, Director TATA Institute of Social Sciences
• Dr. Vijay Bhatkar, Chancellor, Nalanda University.

At the Pune event, Naveen Patnaik addressed 10,000 youths from across the country, who had congregated to hear the magician chief minister of the masses. Incidentally, as chief minister, it was Naveen’s first public address before an applauding pan-Indian audience.

The mysterious ‘Kunduli girl death’ is one of the most heart-rending events in the recent times. But the ruling party can’t be blamed blindly for that. The judicial investigation will come up with the truth for certain.