A young, new Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi takes office in Odisha, my home state back home. After 24 long years it feels like a breath of fresh air, a la the captivating petrichor scent post fresh monsoon showers on parched earth. Though his predecessor's performance was a mixed bag, Naveen Patnaik, a suave gentleman who has done some good things for the state had carved his niche. Yet it was high time for a change, a change one can believe in after a long hiatus.
Along with the new Chief Minister, a team of mostly new and unfamiliar faces took oath as Ministers. Barring a couple may be, all of them have little or no experience in administration. One of them is Suresh Pujari from Western Odisha, a grassroot leader of BJP and a man of impeccable credentials. He was a popular student leader in the early 1980s and is a first time MLA from Brajarajnagar. The rest are new to me.
The first 100 days of any marriage is called as Honeymoon period. The couples don't judge each other as they explore themselves. Eventually familiarity starts breeding contempt. Same goes with public life and politics. A new face carries the burden of hopes and aspirations along with unbridled expectations. As the CM and the team don't carry any prior baggage and come fresh from the oven after 24 years of same old, same old people gone stale over the time, I would give them an extended honeymoon period of 6 months until end of this year.
The challenges will start from the new year as the young faces will start showing signs of aging due to stress and fatigue of their tremendous responsibility loaded with expectations as loaded cheese on Nachos or loaded ingredients on Dahi Bara and Aludum, the quantities of which is never enough. Similarly they will be assessed by the ever dissatisfied commoners, facing new challenges with opposition waiting on them to make mistakes. Something can always go wrong in a state of 45 million people. There are 65 MLAs in the opposition (51 from BJP and 14 from Congress), the biggest ever in recent history of Odisha. They will demand every pound of accountability and try to make political capital out of it, leaving no stone unturned to embarrass the government whenever they get the opportunity. It will be interesting to see how Mr. Majhi and his team are going to handle the challenges they are going to face sooner or later.
Well begun is half done. To give credit to the new BJP government in Odisha, as the first major decision they opened all the four doors of the Puri temple. Sri Jagannath not just lives the temple, he lives in the heart of all Odias. Jaga Kalia is not simply just one among the 330 million Hindu Gods. He is the way of life of Odias. You visit the drawing room (as living room is called in Odisha) of any Odia family, you will see at least a picture or statue of Sri Jagannath along with His siblings. No marriage or any auspicious occasion begins without inviting Chakadola, called "Jagannatha Nimantrana" in local parlance. Mahabahu (another name of the Lord) no doubt represents our wonderful culture and tradition. Devotees throng the temple in thousands every day.
In this context I don't know whose brilliant idea was to close 3 out of 4 doors of the temple and keep only one open, forcing the devotees to stand for hours in scorching heat to get a "Darshan" (view) of the Lord. Now the decision to open all the temple doors is the step in the right direction. BJP is only keeping its poll promise of Odia "Ashmita" (it should be Swabhiman, meaning self respect). Ironically we Odias who are most immigrant friendly folks on earth who eagerly welcome are known to accept and imitate others language and culture. But taking the entire race for granted by trying to inculcate the Tirupati temple culture by non-Odia officers, the BJD folks at the helm of affairs of the state completely misjudged the mood of the elecriand made some grave mistake. The consequence of this miscalculation was the ruling Party BJD losing the elections after long 24 years.
Remember the movie from the 90s "There is something about Mary" ? There is something about the air and water of Bhubaneswar". As akin to America whoever comes rarely leaves this country, one who comes to Bhubaneswar never goes back from where he or she came from. The person gets assimilated to the polluted, corrupt political atmosphere of the state capital which can be the perfect recipe for to play the spoilsport for the newcomer. It is a city of Dalaals and sundry parasites.
A good number of MLAs from BJP aren't grassroot politicians, rather the discarded elements from BJD and Congress. Hope the new team keeps aloof from them and do their job to earn their voter's trust. Otherwise they could collapse under their own weight of ever scrutinizing public, enabling BJD to make a spectacular comeback, with BJP reduced to 20s like before. Good luck to Mohan Majhi and his team !
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