By Sandeep Sahu
So this was the showpiece event of the year-long Biju Patnaik celebrations for which preparations were apparently being made for months on end! But at the end of it all, the one question that no one seems to have an answer to is this: if Vice President Hamid Ansari was to be the lone national level dignitary to grace the occasion, why couldn’t the event be held in Bhubaneswar? If the Vice President had agreed to be the chief guest on the occasion, it is highly improbable that he would have said ‘No’ had the event been organized in the state capital.
Make no mistake: the idea of having the event in the national capital made eminent sense. After all, Biju Patnaik was a truly a leader of national – even international – stature and many stalwarts, who have worked with the legendary leader or known him from close quarters, are based in Delhi. But as it happened, none of them made it to the event on Sunday. Given the wonderful rapport that Biju Babu had with many of them, it is unlikely that they would have declined to be part of an event commemorating him, even if they had to come on wheel-chairs. [For the record, the Who’s Who of Indian politics had descended in Odisha to pay their last respects to Biju Babu after his death in April, 1997.] In the event, the only inference that can be drawn about their conspicuous absence is that they were not invited in the first place.
The organizers did not do justice to the great man by converting what was purported to be an event organized by the state government into an essentially Biju Janata Dal (BJD) do. The least they could have done was to invite veterans from all walks of life, including leaders of other political parties, who had the occasion of working with Biju Babu during his long political career lasting half a century or more. It would have been a gesture befitting the magnanimous Biju Patnaik.
True, the Jawaharlal Nehru indoor stadium was packed to capacity and many people could not even get in because the seats had already been occupied. But if reports reaching here are o be believed, many of them were ferried to the venue by the ‘event managers’ of the ruling party. Given the BJD’s record in such matters, it is also possible that at least some of them were hired and not just ferried. If the party named after Biju Patnaik wanted to show that it can pull off an event of this magnitude in the national capital, it chose the wrong occasion. After all, it was not a political rally calling for a mandatory show of strength.
Curiously, what was said at the event did not attract as much attention as did what was not said. For close to a year now, BJD leaders have been vociferous in their demand for conferment of Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award in the country, on Biju Patnaik, citing it as yet another instance of the Centre denying something rightfully due to the state. While the state Assembly had passed a resolution in this regard last year, party MPs had raised the matter in the Parliament. But for some strange, inexplicable reason, none of them, including Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, bothered to raise the demand when it mattered the most!
But what was a rank eyesore on a somber occasion like this was the cheap and downright ‘item numbers’ presented by the second and third rung members of the Odia entertainment industry. This was certainly not the best Odisha could offer on an occasion like this. As Delhi based Odia journalist Shyamsundar Sahoo wrote in a Facebook post, “I did not expect hai hai re tatoowali type cine star thoomkas were included in this program in the name of ODIA cultural program, where his excellence (sic) vice president of India was the honourable Ghief Guest. If this programme is designed by the Biju Patnaik centenary committee, then it is the shame on Odia Community.”
The organizers made a mockery of the memory of the great man by resorting to such gimmicks. Here is hoping that they would make appropriate amends when the year-long celebrations reach their climax on March 5, 2017, Biju Patnaik’s birthday.