Veteran BJD Leader Damodar Rout Given Guard Of Honour In Odisha Assembly;

Bhubaneswar: A guard of honour was accorded to mortal remains of veteran BJD leader Damodar Rout, who breathed his last around 5.30 am, at Odisha Assembly here on Friday.

People from various walks of life including ministers, MLAs and MPs earlier paid tributes to the popular leader at his Unit-VI residence in the city. His body will be taken to his constituencies Paradip and Balikuda-Erasama, from where he fought elections, before being cremated, his son and Paradip MLA Sambit Routray said.

On March 18, Damodar, who was ailing for some time, was admitted at state-run Capital Hospital here following a heart attack. He was later shifted to a private hospital in a ‘brain dead’ condition, which, going by his son Sambit, happened due to neglect in treatment at Capital Hospital. The hospital authorities, however,  subsequently rubbished this allegation.

Known for his gift of the gab, Damodar was among the most prominent leaders mentored by the legendary Biju Patnaik and did not shy away from verbal duels and stoking controversies. He took the political plunge in the 1970s after quitting his job as a veterinary doctor in the government. He was in the Janata Dal for over two decades and then the Biju Janata Dal (BJD). He was elected to the Assembly seven times—five times from Erasama constituency and twice from Paradip—in between 1977 and 2014.

The seasoned politician switched his constituency from Balikuda-Ersama to the port town of Paradeep in 2009.

He was a minister on multiple occasions in governments led by Nilamani Routray, Biju Patnaik and Naveen Patnaik during this period. He, however, courted controversy for his incendiary remarks and was also dropped from the Cabinet twice before being expelled from the BJD for alleged anti-party activities in 2017.

In May 2011, Damodar was dropped from the Cabinet for his alleged remarks that the chief minister was implementing agenda of party MP Pyari Mohan Mohapatra instead of taking his own decision. He was also accused of having used derogatory word Harijan against the ADM, MLA and MP at a public meeting in Kujang on August 18, 2010.

He earlier had several run-ins with arch rival from Jagatsinghpur, Bishnu Das, who was incensed by Rout’s uncharitable remarks against his community. He had also engaged in verbal duels with former Cuttack-Barabati MLA Debashish Samntray, who he thought was eyeing the Paradip seat and was conspiring against him in league with Bishnu Das.

Damodar was inducted into the Cabinet a year later.

He also got a huge relief when the Orissa High Court in March 2019 quashed the criminal case registered against him for his alleged anti-Dalit remarks.

In December 2017, Naveen again removed Damodar, who was then the Agriculture Minister, after his remark ‘Brahmins beg for alms’ during a meeting at Malkangiri triggered a political controversy in the state.

Earlier in November that year, he had stirred a controversy stating that the fight of Jai Rajguru, revered as state’s first martyr under British Raj, can’t be considered a freedom struggle as he rose against the British in 1804 after they broke their promise of making him in-charge of a part of Khurda province. “Instead, the war led by Buxi Jagabandhu in 1817 against the British should be considered as the first war of Independence,” he had said.

Damodar also put the government on the spot when he allegedly refused to visit the family of Brunda Sahu, a farmer who committed suicide in Bargarh district, as he did not belong to the ruling BJD.

In 2016, he also ruffled feathers by questioning effectiveness of Kalas Yatra launched in western Odisha districts by BJD over Mahanadi river water dispute with Centre and the Chhattisgarh  government.

Prior to his expulsion, the veteran leader had embarrassed the ruling party by alleging irregularities in sapling plantation, procurement of polythene sheets for Orissa State Cooperative Milk Producers’ Federation Limited (OMFED), in cooperative bank and in health sector.

However, the biggest controversy in his career dates back to his tenure as a minister in the Janata Dal government headed by Biju Patnaik, when he was accused of sexual misdemeanour with a panchayat samiti chairperson from Kutra block in Sundargarh, Basanti Bera. Damodar faced angry angry demonstrations despite Biju coming to his defence and a fact-finding team, headed by former chief minister Nandini Satpathy, giving him a clean chit.

After failed attempts to form a party and contest 2019 assembly elections from Balikuda on a BJP ticket, when he finished third, Damodar cooled his heels for about five years before BJD president Naveen Patnaik rescinded his expulsion in January this year.