Kandhamal : Congress accuses Patnaik of inaction

Written by Writer on Saturday, October 25th, 2008

Kandhamal : Congress accuses Patnaik of inaction

25 Oct 2008, TNN

NEW DELHI: The heat generated by the pitched battle between the UPA coalition and the BJP-led NDA during the Lok Sabha debate on Friday led to Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik the disruption of the House.

While the BJP and ally BJD sought to project the sustained violence in the Kandhamal district as an outcome of tension between tribals and economically better-off, converted Scheduled Castes, Congress ascribed it to chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s inability to act under pressure from the BJP.

“When he decided to take into bed a snake, he was supposed to be bitten,” panchayati raj minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said.

There was a demand from the UPA benches that in situations like Kandhamal, the Centre should have the legal teeth to intervene.

K Swain (BJP) and B H Mehtab (BJD) put the blame on the ethnic fissures and the phenomenon of conversions for the violence in the tribal area. Mehtab claimed that had logistical support from the Centre been more prompt, that would have helped the state administration to act faster. “Conversions exploded the situation,” he said.
Swain argued that the anti-Christian violence was nothing more than retaliation of the tribals under threat of losing their land to the converted SCs.

However, Aiyar accused Patnaik — his Doon School mate — of crumbling before the pressure from coalition partner BJP and other Sangh Parivar outfits like the VHP, Bajrang Dal and RSS.

His party colleague Madhusudan Mistri said that the agencies of the state government were like mute spectators allowing the marauders to go on a rampage attacking Christian homes and churches. C K Chandrappan (CPI) recalled that while Union minister of state for home S P Jaiswal and MPs’ delegations had been prevented from reaching Kandhmal, VHP leaders Praveen Togadia and Vinay Katiyar could make fiery speeches in the affected areas.