'Dara's case can strengthen the perception among sections of the BJP's traditional support base.'
Key Points
- Dara Singh is serving a life sentence in Kendujhar district jail for the 1999 killing of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons.
- The BJP has maintained that if Dara Singh's remission is allowed, it will be strictly under the established framework applicable to other eligible life convicts.
Once at the centre of Odisha's most contentious political and communal controversies, Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and Dara Singh are back in the news.
While Laxmanananda, whose assassination in 2008 triggered communal violence in Kandhamal and contributed to the BJP-BJD break-up, is being elevated as a figure of state-recognised legacy, the process is underway to release Dara, serving a life sentence in Kendujhar district jail for the 1999 killing of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons.
Dara's remission case is under consideration by the Odisha State Sentence Review Board on grounds of his 'good behaviour'. A two-judge Supreme Court Bench has also asked the state to take a decision at the earliest.
At its July 6 meeting, the board recommended premature release of 19 convicts and rejected the pleas of 31 others. Dara was among six prisoners whose cases were deferred. The board has sought a fresh opinion from Kendujhar district authorities.
Although legally separate, the two developments occupy the same political terrain. Vishva Hindu Parishad leader Laxmanananda Saraswati and Bajrang Dal activist Dara Singh are closely associated with the BJP's ideological history in Odisha.
Two decades later, the BJP is in power on its own and is revisiting, and in some cases institutionalising, that history.
The state government has renamed the Phulbani Government Medical College and Hospital after Laxmanananda, sanctioned Rs 13 crore for the development of his Jalespata Ashram, and decided to introduce the seer's life and works in school and college curricula.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi has also announced seminars and workshops across Odisha and at universities elsewhere in the country during Laxmanananda's birth centenary year, which began August 21, to popularise his ideals.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Sarkaryavah Dattatreya Hosabale, who recently released a biography of Laxmanananda in Bhubaneswar, described the seer as a force who dedicated his life to protecting dharma, serving society and inspiring people through spiritual values.
'Swamiji dedicated his life to protecting dharma, serving society and inspiring people through spiritual values,' Hosbale said.
Missing Report Sparks Fresh Probe
Majhi's recent decision to order a crime branch probe into the alleged disappearance of the Justice A S Naidu Commission report on Laxmanananda's assassination, two years after it went missing from the chief minister's office, has added another dimension to the government's renewed focus on the seer.
Describing the disappearance as a 'conspiracy' under the previous BJD government, Majhi has promised strict action against those responsible.
Although a left-wing extremist group claimed responsibility shortly after the incident, the BJP, VHP and other associate organisations have attributed the killing to a "well-planned conspiracy".
"Despite repeated attacks, he was not provided adequate security. The security detail was withdrawn on the very night of his assassination. The subsequent inquiry report was suppressed or kept away from the public eye and now it is missing," said Biranchi Narayan Tripathy, general secretary of the state BJP.
The history surrounding the assassination is critical to understanding the politics of the moment.
A native of Gurujanga village (now in Anugola district), Laxmanananda, who was working against religious conversion and for the welfare of tribals in Kandhamal district, was shot dead along with his four disciples at his Jalespata Ashram on Janmashtami night, August 23, 2008.
His killing triggered communal violence, leaving at least 40 people dead and thousands displaced. Within months, Naveen Patnaik walked away from the BJP, and the two parties contested the 2009 election separately.
The split transformed Odisha politics, reducing the BJP to the margins while Patnaik turned the BJD into a formidable regional political machine.
Now, the BJP is in government and the BJD in Opposition. A figure whose assassination helped precipitate the break-up of the old alliance is being elevated into the pantheon of state-recognised public figures by the BJP government.
Dara Singh's Remission Case
Dara, alias Rabindra Kumar Pal, 62, a native of Uttar Pradesh's Auraiya district, brings a different political baggage. He was convicted in the killing of Graham Staines and his two sons, who were burnt alive in their vehicle in Manoharpur in 1999.
His death sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. After more than 25 years in prison, he is now likely to be released on grounds of good conduct.
There is, however, a crucial legal distinction. Premature release of life convicts is provided for under the state's remission framework.
Dara's case, therefore, cannot simply be described as a political pardon. But it has an interesting political connection.
Majhi, who had sat on a dharna outside Keonjhar jail in 2022 along with an editor of a news channel demanding Dara's release when he was in Opposition, is now heading the government.
The BJP has maintained that if Dara's remission is allowed, it will be strictly under the established framework applicable to other eligible life convicts.
However, the BJD has rubbished the conspiracy theory and questioned the delay in filing the police complaint over the missing inquiry reports.
"The FIR says the files are untraceable since the very first day of this government. Why was the complaint lodged after two years? We welcome a fair probe. But it must happen, not the politics around it," said Prasanna Acharya, senior vice-president, BJD.
Political analysts said the two developments could give the BJP a political dividend as it seeks to convert its electoral breakthrough into a durable political base.
Narottam Gaan, former head of political science at Central University, Amarkantak, said that by institutionalising Laxmanananda's legacy and allowing Dara's case to reach its logical conclusion under the remission framework, the BJP wants to signal that the political and ideological causes it stood for in the Opposition have not been abandoned after coming to power.
"Laxmanananda helps the party reinforce its Hindutva narrative and its connect with tribals, while Dara's case can strengthen the perception among sections of the BJP's traditional support base that the party is willing to stand by its old positions," he added.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff
