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The Congress and the cyclone

Who is the most popular man in cyclone-battered Orissa? It could be Chandrababu Naidu, the chief minister of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. As one Oriya professor succinctly expressed it, "We have one governor for both states. Why not settle for just one chief minister as well?" This was before Orissa got a governor for itself rather than have one man do double duty.

The reason for Chandrababu Naidu's sudden popularity in Orissa is not hard to explain. Very simply put, he has managed to blend compassion with efficiency -- and I dare say a dash of media-savviness as well. The government of Andhra Pradesh was the first to send a team of relief workers; by common consent it was also one of the best to work in Orissa.

It is, of course, true that the Andhra Pradesh team didn't have far to go -- the two states are neighbours after all. But it is worthwhile taking a look at Orissa's other neighbours -- Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal. How many teams did they send and how well did they perform? The answer is best expressed by a discreet silence.

Come to that, I daresay the government of Andhra Pradesh has done more for the citizens of Orissa than the Giridhar Gamang ministry itself. The chief minister of Orissa has been doing a wonderful imitation of an owl fluttering helplessly in the light of the sun. Much as we may admire these animal-imitations, they are of very little help to his hapless voters themselves.

Do you want an example of how the chief minister of Orissa has lost control over the administration? Consider this: the chief secretary, the lynchpin in any state administration, flew off to the United States just over a week after the cyclone. I don't know what took this bureaucrat out of his state at this critical time. Nor do I care. All that matters is that the chief minister couldn't prevent his senior bureaucrats from attending to personal business rather than public tragedy. (The chief secretary wasn't alone in deserting his post.)

The effect of this state of affairs is becoming appallingly clear with the stories coming out of Orissa. There were food riots in the streets of Bhubaneswar itself. Communications have broken down all over the state. The police is notable chiefly for its absence. Famine and, increasingly, plague are very real possibilities. According to one estimate, it could take up to a decade just to bring Orissa back where it was at the beginning of October -- and that wasn't anything to write home about anyway.

Kalahandi, which has been synonymous with famine for over a decade, is a district of Orissa, remember? Yet Orissa is a state that is richly endowed by nature. There is a wealth of minerals. There are sites with tourist potential. Orissa's ports are the natural gateways into eastern and central India. The land is fertile enough -- even Kalahandi produces enough food to keep famine at bay if only the public distribution system works. The sad truth is that the constitutional machinery in Orissa broke down a very long time ago; it just took a super cyclone for the rest of India to realise that fact.

But does anyone care? Sonia Gandhi's first reaction was to fly off for an aerial survey. (The money spent on escorting her, security officers and all, from Delhi to Orissa might have better spent on relief work.) Her second reaction was to announce that Giridhar Gamang would not be sacked. J B Patnaik, Gamang's predecessor in office, then immediately announced that a new committee should be set up to organise relief work. In other words, it was fun 'n' games as usual in the Congress camp...

By the way, I noticed several reports of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh workers engaged in relief work, not shying away even from the grim job of disposing of the thousands of corpses. Once upon a time, the Congress Seva Dal would also have been involved in such work. No longer!

This utter apathy is literally unbelievable. After all, Orissa must go to the polls within the next six months. (Actually, I'm not sure if this schedule can be maintained given the devastation of the super cyclone.) It seems to make sense, then, that the Congress ministry would be seen to be doing as much relief work as possible. Instead, it seems bent upon doing as little as possible. That, by the way, makes Chandrababu Naidu's efforts even more admirable. He doesn't have to worry about assembly elections for another five years -- and Orissa's voters wouldn't vote in them anyway. But if they could, I think I know who would sweep the polls. And no, it isn't Giridhar Gamang!

T V R Shenoy