In politics, as in life, there are no true friends and no true enemies. And things can change in a second and while you might be King one day, you can be reduced to pauper (and lesser) the very next day.
I have very less respect for politicians, even lesser for the second and third generation ones who live off the legacy of their fathers, grandfathers and grandmothers. Atleast the first time politician has walked the talk!
And here I have an axe to grind with my best friend’s dad PM Mohapatra. Till last week, Uncle was the ‘mentor’ of the Orissa CM , the socialite,scotch drinking Naveen Pattnaik and today, Uncle is holding out his own in Bhubaneswar - with his house surrounded by goondas and his life under threat from the local ruling BJD. His supposed ‘crime’? That he was organising a coup against Naveen Pattnaik.
Uncle has been compared to Chanakya and for those of us who remember their history - Chanakya was the mentor to Chandragupta Maurya and helped him create the great Mauryan empire.
When Chandragupta left the throne in favour of his son Bindusara, Chanakya stayed on in his capacity as the administrator. Bindusara also had a minister named Subandhu who did not like Chanakya or the power he wielded over the Mauryan Kings.
Subandhu told Bindusara that Chanakya was responsible for murdering the Queen Mother. Bindusara asked his nurses and they confirmed the story. Bindusara thought Chanakya was a traitor and was furious with him. Chanakya gave up everything and In the meantime, Bindusara came to know the true facts of his birth (and his mother’s death).
The true fact was that the Queen Mother had been poisoned because Chanakya fed a little poison to Chandragupta at every meal to make him immune to it and the pregnant wife partook of his food. When Chanakya realised this, he helped save Bindusara.
I would also compare Uncle to Chanakya. Because Uncle truly loves his State and has worked tirelessly to improve the quality of politics and lives of many people there. He mentored Naveen Pattnaik and never once seeked to be at the helm of things. He preferred to advise and guide, rather than lead on his own. I know for a fact that neither Uncle nor any of his kids ever took advantage of his position - infact each of them has had to work doubly hard to prove his/her worth. Nobody in the family has garnered undue wealth or land and they live like the middle class family they are.
But I also know this - Uncle loves Orissa, but he loves his grand-kids even more. Over the years, Uncle has felt the burden of the task because he wanted to spend more time with his grand-kids. The high points in his life are Anaya’s innocent babble and her birthday party. He loves to indulge his grand kids.
So why would he ever stage a coup? It is a lie , but Uncle possibly deserves to be in this position today. And why not???
After all, why did he agree to mentor the idiot? And sacrifice days and nights for the fool who does not even know his state well? Uncle should have realised that a fool will seek sycophants who will always tell him how good he is, how intelligent he is and how capable he is. And there will also be other smart ones around him who will play up on his insecurities and murmur softly in his ears how his mentor wants to overthrow him. So the joker who was holidaying in London, while Uncle was holding fort in Bhubaneswar flapped his wings and decided to suspend Uncle.
I for one am extremely happy Naveen Pattnaik did this. Because there is hope....hope that BJD is paving the way for another party, because they have had a good run for decades and it is time for change. (It is time for change all over India ). Because Naveen Pattnaik truly has to grow up and realise what he has lost.
And most of all, coz Uncle needs to take care of his health and spend time with his grand-kids. He has done a fabulous job and can take a well deserved bow for that.
And politics is really not meant for good clean people. Let the politicians ruin the country!
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