200 PRIVATE GUESTS AT THE RAJ BHAVAN VIP CARNIVAL ENDORSED BY THE MAJHI GOVERNMENT

In every school textbook, civics is taught as a sacred subject. Young ones are taught that all citizens are equal before the law, that the government is elected to serve the common public, and that the Governor is a nonpartisan constitutional head in India.

However, if students in Odisha step away from their textbooks and observe the current political reality under Chief Minister Mohan Majhi, they will discover a completely different system. In today’s Odisha, the Constitution has taken a backseat, and the state runs on a simple, feudal rule: VVIP entitlement comes first, party bosses come second, and the ordinary Odia citizen comes last.

The Puri Raj Bhavan Assault (July 2024)

During the July 2024 Rath Yatra, while millions of devotees in Puri stood under the scorching sun to catch a glimpse of Lord Jagannath, an ugly display of power was taking place inside the high gates of the Puri Raj Bhavan : Lalit Kumar, the son of the then Governor Raghubar Das, arrived with his gang of friends. They did not come as humble pilgrims; they came demanding royal, five-star treatment. When a dedicated state government officer on duty, Baikuntha Pradhan, could not arrange a luxury vehicle immediately due to the massive festival crowds, hell broke loose.

The Governor's son and his associates allegedly pounced upon the officer. Reports revealed that this government servant was slapped, kicked, dragged through rooms, and severely assaulted inside the Raj Bhavan itself. The officer’s wife gathered immense courage and filed a formal police complaint.

In a genuine democracy, the law applies equally to a king and a commoner. Yet, in Mohan Majhi’s Odisha, the entire police machinery developed cold feet. No arrest was made. No serious inquiry was permitted. The entire case was kicked under the carpet simply because the accused was the son of a powerful political appointee.

Young people must reflect on this basic reality: if a government officer inside a high-security government building cannot find justice after being beaten up by a political VIP’s family, an ordinary citizen has most certainly no safety on the street. The newly installed CM Mohan Majhi chose to remain hidden behind the curtains while this humiliation of an Odia officer was taking place.

humiliation of an Odia officer was taking place.

A Chief Minister is the constitutional guardian of the state’s employees and its pride. A courageous leader would have stood firmly by his officer and ordered an impartial probe. Instead, Majhi chose complete, cowardly silence. He did not utter a single word of genuine sympathy for the victim, nor did he demonstrate any shame over this blatant violation of the rule of law.

Instead of demanding accountability, Majhi was packed off to Jharkhand to campaign for the BJP in the Assembly elections. The party thought his presence would fetch the majority of the Santhali and other tribal votes. But the Jharkhand people saw through the charade and handed the party a crushing defeat. Even Raghubar Das himself ended up facing a severe political embarrassment. Yet, even this tight electoral slap from the public did not awaken Chief Minister Majhi to his moral responsibilities.

Fast forward to 2026. For a brief moment, Odisha had experienced the relief of a decent, neutral Governor who respected the dignity of his office and treated all citizens fairly. That standard of decency was quickly replaced with a brand-new administrative farce. A new Governor was installed in Bhubaneswar. 

The swearing-in ceremony of a Governor usually takes barely twenty minutes. It is a solemn constitutional duty, not a Bollywood wedding. Yet, this new appointee arrived in Odisha accompanied by an army of over two hundred personal guests, as though he were an emperor visiting a conquered province.

Bhubaneswar’s administration was thrown into absolute chaos. Fleets of air-conditioned cars were arranged, luxury hotel rooms were booked, and massive dining tables were laid out.

Young vitizens must ask this straightforward question to their local representatives as to who is footing the bill for this lavish hospitality.

Odisha is a state where thousands of schools lack basic science laboratories, sports fields, and drinking water facilities. Yet, our hard-earned tax money is drained without hesitation to provide luxury accommodation and royal food for two hundred uninvited political tourists who have nothing to do with Odisha’s governance.

The spectacle did not stop at wasteful expenditure. The very moment the new Governor landed, he shattered the primary requirement of his office: neutrality.

Under the Indian Constitution, a Governor belongs to no political party once they take the oath of office. They represent the President of India and must protect all citizens equally, whether they support the ruling party or the opposition.

Instead, this new appointee openly declared that his main goal would be to make his political party more popular across Odisha. He explicitly announced his ambition to build a massive vote bank for his party ahead of the upcoming Panchayat and Urban municipal elections.

This was not a slip of the tongue; it was a deliberate attempt to convert the Raj Bhavan into an election war room. Such an act reduces a prestigious constitutional office to the level of a party campaign office, directly attacking the basic structure of fair, multi-party democracy.

Through every single one of these outrages, Chief Minister Mohan Majhi has maintained his faithful silence. He has shown zero interest in defending state autonomy or questioning the Governor's behaviour.

When a Chief Minister chooses to remain blind and deaf to daylight robbery of public funds and the political capture of state institutions, it is not accidental. It happens because his primary loyalty is not to the people of Odisha, but to his political high command. To keep his chair secure and his masters pleased, he has permitted the dignity of the state to be trampled upon.

Questions for the Youth of Odisha

History shows that change never comes from silent politicians; it begins when tech-savvy, highly informed young people start asking uncomfortable questions. University students are not just the future of this state; they are citizens with a clear right to question their leaders today.

When leaders visit their towns and colleges seeking applause, they must raise these clear questions directly to the political administration:

Why has an honest on-duty officer beaten up in the 2024 Puri Raj Bhavan still received no justice, and why does the accused remain free?

From which budget head is the state paying for the hotel stays, cars, and food of more than two hundred private guests of the new Governor?

Why is an unelected constitutional head openly behaving like a party campaigner for local elections, and why is the Chief Minister tolerating this open violation of democratic norms?

Does our state leadership exist to protect the dignity of the Odia public, or to act as an obedient catering service for VIP masters?

Democracy does not survive on blind loyalty and silence. It survives on vigilance, courage, and accountability. It is time for the sensitive young generation to reject this VIP culture and hold the administration accountable to the Constitution.