Once Unfazed by Political Situation, Ex-Odisha DGP Now Joins BJP

(Photo: Samikhsya)

Not only does politics make strange bed-fellows, but strange people sometimes walk into the field of politics. Those who nurture a obsessive dislike for politics, unexpectedly, fall in love with it.

A case in point is the entry of Prakash Mishra, a former police officer of repute who subsequently rose to become the director general of police of Odisha. Mishra on Sunday, 24 March, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Known for his probity and proven track-record of diligence, Mishra has always shown the abhorrence for any kind of undue subjugation, let alone political subservience. However, now he has held the lotus and remains bound by certain rules of a political party where genuflection before the tops is mandatory.

Going by the unspoken rules and regulations those constitute the narratives of politics of the day, people those who know Mishra, are a bit surprised and wonder if he can be metamorphosed to an extent of a politician of the day.

When politics is seriously impaired by many ills underneath like, lies, hypocrisy and pretensions of immeasurable nature, can he wriggle out of the claustrophobia there?

Recently, a former judicial officer of repute confided to a friend of his that there is an open offer for him to join politics.

“When I delved in to know some inner things about what are the dos and don’ts in politics, I was totally disillusioned and decided not to join politics,” he said.

“One has to relegate himself to the level of harnessing muscle power through lures like money and alcohol also. It is bit too much for me.“

Politics now requires the art to keep the larger mass oscillate between illusions and a grim reality.

In addition, every leader has to nurture a craving for own identity and one-up-man-ship and to have all that you cannot afford to remain a monk or an ascetic in the present form of politics.

While taking over as the DGP, Mishra made it look easy as how to reform the image of police

As one knows little about Prakash Mishra, he was not only a silent achiever as an officer but at crucial times he could be ruthlessly straight to defend his position as an individual.

From a soft spoken person and bit introvert in nature to a garrulous politician, Mishra may not have fathomed the depth of undulation politics is rooted in.

(This was first published on The Samikhsya and has been republished with permission)