Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan castigates BJD govt in Odisha, says no one safe in state
BJD counters, says BJP-ruled states witness more number of murder cases than Odisha
By Sukant Mohanty
Bhubaneswar, March 31: Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday launched a no-holds-barred attack on the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha and alleged that the state had plunged into lawlessness where no one was safe under the present dispensation.
“Neither citizens nor public representatives are safe in Odisha. Gruesome incidents like murders happen on a regular basis. Such incidents have shocked everyone and weakened the trust of people of Odisha,” the minister said.
The minister’s observation came in the backdrop of two back-to-back murder cases in just two months in the industrial town of Jharsuguda in western Odisha. While state health minister Naba Kishore Das was killed by a police officer on January 29, a 14-year-old Class X student was brutally murdered by two miscreants on March 27.
The Crime Branch which is probing into the minister’s murder case still struggles to establish the motive behind the murder of the minister. It has failed to extract any concrete inputs from the accused police officer Gopal Das on why he killed the minister.
The “failure” of the Crime Branch to establish the motive behind the ghastly daylight murder of the minister has found its repercussions on the proceedings of the current Budget Session of the Odisha Legislative Assembly with the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress targeting the Treasury Bench members for failing to protect a minister.
On Wednesday, the Jharsuguda police had recovered the half-charred body of Samarth Agrawal, a Class X student who was abducted for ransom on March 27 afternoon by two miscreants. The boy’s body was found on the bank of a river in Bargarh district, nearly 100 km from Jharsuguda.
Taking to Twitter, Pradhan said, “This is how high-time people in power (the BJD government) recognise the fault-lines in the law and order situation in the state.
Murder of young Samarth exactly within two months of the broad daylight killing of minister Naba Kishore Das exposes the Odisha government’s tall claims on rule of law,” he said.
“No amount of empathy will bring solace to young Samarth’s family. The Odisha government must pull up its socks to ensure rule of law and safety of citizens,” Pradhan added.
Senior BJD leader and Rajya Sabha member Dr Sasmit Patra countered Pradhan’s statement saying BJP-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra witnessed more number of murder cases than Odisha in 2021.
Calling Pradhan as Bhai (brother), Patra said, “Don’t insult the peace-loving people of Odisha by branding them as lawless. Don’t insult Odisha for your petty political narrative. It’s surprising to see that despite you having been a Union Minister for so long, you are still unaware about the difference between lawlessness (law and order) and crime.”
