Odisha converted to a police state: Jena

Bhubaneswar: Accusing the BJD government of turning Odisha into a "police-state", Congress leader and union minister Srikant Jena on Friday said it had lost the moral authority to continue in office, particularly after Thursday`s action against demonstrators here.

"It seems the state of Odisha has been converted into a police state where all the democratic values and right to protest have been completely buried", Jena, Union Minister of State for Statistics & Programme Implementation and Chemical and Fertilizers, said in a statement.

Terming as "brutal and uncivilised" the police action on Congress demonstrators, he said, "The Naveen Patnaik-led government had lost the moral authority to continue in government".

The Congress workers were peacefully demonstrating against the anti-people policies and corruption of the BJD government and highlighting huge corruption and nepotism in various sectors when they were "ruthlessly" lathi-charged along with use of water cannons and tear gas shells, he said.

The police had even entered the Pradesh Congress Office and continued their "inhuman attrocities" against party workers and leaders, Jena claimed.

At least 100 people, including policemen, were injured when Congress demonstrators, trying to gherao the state assembly, clashed with police on Thursday.