Bhubaneswar: As the ongoing strike by drivers across Odisha entered the fourth day on Friday, transport services in the state continued to be crippled, severely disrupting movement of people and essential goods.
However, the agitation took a political turn ahead of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Samvidhan Bachao’ rally in Bhubaneswar as the Odisha Driver Mahasangha announced its decision to allow movement of vehicles carrying Congress leaders and workers to the state capital without creating any obstacle.
The move came after Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Bhakta Charan Das and several Congress MLAs urged the drivers’ union to cooperate by allowing free movement of party vehicles. The association responded positively to the appeal, promising full cooperation.
In a video message released late Thursday night, Mahasangha president Prashant Menduli said that vehicles associated with the Congress party would not be stopped during the protest on July 11. “We will not obstruct Congress vehicles today,” Menduli said, while also maintaining that the protest remains otherwise active until the government provides a written assurance on their six-point demand charter.
The move has triggered sharp reaction from the BJP government in the state with Transport Minister Bibhuti Bhushan Jena questioning the intentions behind selectively lifting the protest for a political event.
“The government has already discussed and is considering the demands seriously. There’s no need to continue the agitation. But relaxing the protest just for a Congress program shows clear political influence. Innocent drivers are being misled,” he said in a social media post.
Notably, the OPCC chief had earlier accused the Odisha government of using the protest by drivers to disrupt Rahul Gandhi’s rally. The Congress has alleged that the state government failed to act swiftly on the driver stir for political reasons.
Sudden softening of stand by the drivers for the Congress rally has now added a political colour to the agitation. While the Mahasangha insists that its demands are non-political and in the interest of drivers, the exemption for a party event has raised questions over neutrality.
With fuel supplies under stress and lakhs of commuters continuing to suffer, the political undertones have complicated an already tense situation.