Boos for Bhakta

Inisgtorissa, May 15, 2007

The much hyped ‘Kalahandi Suraksha Yatra’, that was deliberately planned by Bhakta Charan Das, to embarrass Vedanta for no reason, has come a cropper. As the former Central Minister from the district left with disappointment for Bijeypur, in the last leg of his weeklong yatra, it was all clear that his grand plan has fizzled out.

The yatra started at Kesinga on 14 March, the auspicious day of Pana Sankranti, marking the Oriya New Year, but the beginning seemed inauspicious. Out of some 200 people who came with curiosity, only about 40 remained for the actual yatra. Others quickly departed after taking food. By the time the yatra reached Rupra, going through villages like Sirol, Paralsingha, Thupadar, etc, only some 30 odd were seen. When yatra resumed next morning and reached Narla , only 20 were left. In all the villages Bhakta and his men faced hostile locals who booed him for his selfish motive.

Bhakta reached Biswanathpur on 17 and slogans like, “Lanjigarh Dhwani…Heu Vedanta Company (Lanjigarh wants Vedanta)”, welcomed him. The irate people asked him what they would do if Vedanta goes, now that they are earning their livelihood because of it. Bhakta and his followers faced angry protests in all villages of Lanjigarh like Champadeipur, Gopinathpur, Batelima, Belamba, Rengopali,etc, On 19 April, Bhakta cancelled his plans to go to Balabhadrapur as he got news of an abusive crowd waiting for him there. Instead, he went to Lanjigarh town where also he was greeted by a protesting crowd of 300-400 people led by local leaders like Chandra Pesnia, Sridhar Pesnia, Banamali Majhi, Vinod Gaud and Sanatan Rout. Frustrated by all this, Bhakta’s men started manhandling the people and hence, complaint has been lodged against him at the local police station.

Dejected by such turn of events much to his discomfiture, Bhakta left for Bijeypur with only a handful of his supporters. Spurred by his own political motives, Bhakta babu has been staging such gimmicks against Vedanta, off and on, even as the company has been working for the overall development of people around its project area, say the local people and leaders They have strongly decried such selfish and anti-development posturing of a person who was once a Central Minister from this backward district.