Bhubaneswar: Odisha Health Minister Naba Kishore Das succumbed to his bullet injuries on Sunday at a city hospital on Sunday after ASI on duty at Gandhi chowk Gopal Das shot at the minister while he was on a visit to his home constituency in Jharsuguda in Odisha on Sunday. While the incident came as a shock to all, this was not the first brutal gun violence in Odisha.
Odisha, the land of Lord Jagannath, has been a peaceful state where politics too was placid. However, things took a turn for the worst as violence crept into Odisha’s political circles since the turn of the century.
Maheshwar Mohanty, former Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MLA from Puri; Jagabandhu Manjhi, former BJD MLA from Umarkote in Nabarangpur district; Abhimanyu Sahoo, former BJD leader from Titlagarh; Sudam Marandi, a former minister; and former Congress MLA Dhanurjay Sahu, were attacked between 2007 and 2014. While two of them died, three had providential escapes.
Jagabandhu Manjhi was a victim of Naxal wrath and fell to the extremists’ bullets on September 24, 2011. On the fateful day, the former MLA from Umarkote was returning home after distributing land patta among the tribals at Gona village in Raighar block when the Naxalites opened fire on Manjhi killing the BJD leader and his PSO Prashant Patra. Jagabandhu survived a similar attack in 2004.
On the night of February 22, 2014, BJD MLA Maheshwar Mohanty was returning home after attending a programme in his hometown Puri. It was around 8.00 pm when two miscreants riding a bike waylaid him near his house and suddenly opened fire at him. However, he was fortunate to escape with minor bullet injuries on his hand.
Senior BJD leader and former Odisha minister Sudam Marndi was attacked on October 13, 2009. During that time, he was a leader of the tribal organisation Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and had gone to Bandaba village under Suliapada police limits located near the Odisha-Bengal border to watch a match. Unknown miscreants, allegedly belonging to the outlawed Red Rebels, attacked him during the match. While Marandi succeeded in escaping the attack, three jawans were killed on the spot.
BJD leader and a Young Turk, Abhimanyu Sahu was hacked to death on December 15, 2012, when he was out in the morning at Bandhupal in Titlagarh district. The murder of Abhimanyu, husband of Odisha Commerce and Transport Minister Tukuni Sahu, was said to be the fallout of enmity over business issues.
Another leader who was a victim of political violence in Odisha was the former Congress MLA from Champua, Dhanurjay Sidhu. He was attacked by two bike-borne miscreants on February 26, 2007, while he was on his way to attend some business. Sidhu was, however, lucky to escape the miscreants’ bullets.
