Cover Story: Orissa Cyclone Politics: Adopting a Ploy

The Congress and its rivals have made a battle field of the relief measures. Associate Editor Farzand Ahmed assesses the politicking.

For a people ravaged by the cyclone, Bhadrak's residents have in the past few days learnt as much about the vicissitudes of life as geography. The name doing the rounds of what were once Bhadrak's humming bazaars and busy dirt roads is "Rajasthan" -- the state which has "adopted" this district.

S O S T E A M

Andhra Pradesh: Rushed help to Ganjam as soon as cyclone hit.
ť Naidu's men were there before Gamang's.
Delhi: Adopted Puri, sent a minister and four bureaucrats
ť Delhi gave Rs 5 cr; will rebuild homes, schools.
Rajasthan: Adopted Bhadrak. In all eight Congress state regimes have adopted a district each.
ť Maharashtra will build "model village" in Jagatsinghpur.
Transport Ministry: Nitish Kumar pledges Rs 30 crore to 169 villages in Kujang, Paradip.
ť 150 Gujarat doctors came. Forced to sit idle.
Taskforce Plan: George Fernandes led team wants PSUs to adopt 57 blocks for reconstruction.

Stationed in a small guesthouse in the town is Devendra Singh Shekhawat, Rajasthan's agriculture minister. Assisted by B.B. Mohanty, an Oriya civil servant who is labour commissioner in Rajasthan, Shekhawat puts the adoption into effect every day. What does it amount to other than a cursory supervision of relief operations? Shekhawat is non-committal: "Kuch nahin ... sirf bure wakt mein madad karne ka maqsad hai (It's nothing more than helping out somebody in need)."

Not everyone is as easygoing. Take Bijoy Mohapatra, MLA and leading light of the opposition Biju Janata Dal. "The adoption scheme is a hoax," he thunders, "how can one state adopt another. Constitutionally one state can't make budgetary provisions for another." Even Arvind Behera, Orissa's tribal development secretary and a key coordinator of the relief operations, confesses to being baffled. "We are yet to understand the adoption scheme."

That hasn't stopped its proliferation though. Andhra Pradesh has taken charge of Ganjam, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu even becoming a sort of idol here for the promptness with which he responded. Gujarat's BJP Government sent 150 doctors to Jagatsinghpur and sought to be its guardian. The Orissa regime was not very enthusiastic and the doctors sat idle.

Then came the Congress' "adoption" scheme, a brainchild of party chief Sonia Gandhi who visited Jajpur, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur to launch the programme. So Rajasthan adopted Bhadrak, Delhi Puri, Maharashtra Jagatsinghpur, Karnataka Kendrapara and Madhya Pradesh Jajpur. The situation turned a trifle ludicrous when tiny and faraway Goa adopted Keonjhar, Arunachal Balasore and Nagaland Mayurbhanj. The first thing each of these state Governments did was find Oriya officers working for them and despatch them post-haste to their home state. Orders, if issued in the first place, were vague.

A couple of weeks down the line, the parachutists are more confident. Yoganand Shastri, Delhi urban development minister, is at least somewhat specific about what he's doing for Puri. The Delhi Government has given Rs 1 crore to the Orissa Chief Minister's Relief Fund and raised another Rs 4 crore for the district.

Backed up by four Oriya-speaking IAS officers from Delhi, Shastri says, "Our plan includes clearing of uprooted trees and handing them over to people for use as firewood. And repairing houses, schools and dispensaries." Likewise Prataprao Bhosle, Maharashtra Congress chief, talks of setting up a "model village" in Jagatsinghpur and facilitating adoption of orphans.

Not to be outdone, the BJP and its allies -- particularly George Fernandes and Nitish Kumar -- have also got into the act. With state elections due in March, the impact of the cyclone cannot but be felt on the ballot box. Sensing Chief Minister Giridhar Gamang's utter ineffectiveness, Sonia was forced to garner resources from across the country. The high command is calling the shots in Orissa. So much so that, adapting the chief minister's initials, locals have nicknamed his government "GG sarkar" (read: ji ji, yes yes). Gamang then is the cyclone's unsung casualty -- the chief minister who is also a rubber stamp.

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