Biju Patnaik

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Biju Patnaik
Kendrapara
Personal details
Born
Bijayananda Patnaik

(1916-03-05)5 March 1916
industrialist, diplomat
Awards

Bijayananda Patnaik (5 March 1916 – 17 April 1997) was an Indian politician, aviator and businessman. He served as the 3rd

Chief Minister of the State of Odisha from 1990 to 1995 and from 1961 to 1963. He was also the 14th Steel and mines and 1st Coal Union Minister of India from 1979 to 1980 and from 1977 to 1979 and a member of Lok Sabha from Kendrapara from 1977 to 1985. He was the father of Naveen Patnaik
, who is the current CM of Odisha and currently the longest serving CM of Odisha.

Statue of Biju Pattnaik

Early life

His parents lived in Ghumusar Nuagam,

Axis Powers
.

Role in Indonesian freedom struggle

See also: Sutan Sjahrir

Patnaik met with Jawaharlal Nehru during his participation in Indonesian freedom struggle and became one of his trusted friends. Nehru viewed the freedom struggle of the Indonesian people as parallel to that of India, and viewed Indonesia as a potential ally. When the Dutch attempted to quell Indonesian independence on 21 July 1947, President Sukarno ordered Sjahrir, the former prime minister of Indonesia, to leave the country to attend the first Inter-Asia Conference, organised by Nehru, in July 1947[2] and to foment international public opinion against the Dutch.[3] Sjahrir was unable to leave as the Dutch controlled the Indonesian sea and air routes. Nehru asked Patnaik, who was adventurous and an expert pilot, to rescue Sjahrir and other Indonesian resistance fighters who were fighting their Dutch colonisers.[4] Patnaik and his wife Gyanwati, flew to Java, dodging the Dutch guns, he entered Indonesian airspace and landed on an improvised airstrip near Jakarta. Using left-over fuel from abandoned Japanese military dumps, Patnaik took off with prominent rebels, including Sultan Sjahrir and Achmad Sukarno, for a secret meeting with Nehru at New Delhi and brought out on a Douglas C-47 (Dakota) military aircraft reaching India via Singapore on 24 July 1947. For this act of bravery, Patnaik was given honorary citizenship in Indonesia[5] and awarded the 'Bhoomi Putra',[6] the highest Indonesian award, rarely granted to a foreigner. In 1995, when Indonesia was celebrating its 50th Independence Day, Biju Patnaik was awarded the highest national award, the Bintang Jasa Utama.[7]

In 2015, Sukarno's daughter

from 2001 to 2004.[8][9]

In 2021, the Indonesian Embassy in New Delhi designated a room in the name of Patnaik. On the walls of the Patnaik room are photographs, newspaper clippings and letters that document Mr. Patnaik's secret assignments to fly out Indonesian leaders, as well as his relations with the Indonesian leadership.[10]

Landing with DC-3

Patnaik flew many sorties on his Dakota

DC-3
flew ground level. Anxious eyeballs peered from inside the aircraft – only to find the airstrip empty. Nary a soul was in sight. The raiders were busy distributing the spoils of war amongst them in Baramulla.

Politics in independent India

Patnaik's political ideals were centered in socialism and federalism. His strong advocacy for equal resources to all Indian states who needed such, made him a champion of his Odia constituents.

In 1946 Patnaik was elected uncontested to the

Kamaraj Plan
to revitalise the Congress party. He was the Chief Minister of Odisha at the age of 45.

Patnaik was close to Indira Gandhi who took over the Congress Party in 1967. However, they clashed in 1969 over the presidential election. He left the Congress and formed a regional party—the Utkal Congress. In the 1971 assembly poll, his party did reasonably well. Patnaik then re-established contact with his old friend Jayaprakash Narayan and plunged into the JP movement as it picked up momentum in 1974. When the Emergency was declared in 1975, Biju Patnaik was one of the first to be arrested along with other opposition leaders.

He was released in 1977. Later, in the same year, he was elected to the

Chief Minister of Odisha
for the second time until 1995.

Patnaik was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1996 from Cuttack and

Aska constituencies as a Janata Dal candidate. He retained the latter until his death on 17 April 1997 of cardio-respiratory failure.[11]

In 1992, Patnaik left this quote for the people of Odisha;

"In my dream of the 21st century for the State, I would have young men and women who put the interest of the State before them. They will have pride in themselves, confidence in themselves. They will not be at anybody's mercy, except their own selves. By their brains, intelligence and capacity, they will recapture the history of Kalinga."[12]

Achievements as a public representative

Patnaik set up Kalinga tubes,

HAL-Sunabeda and the Choudwar & Barbil
industrial belts.

He also established the Kalinga Cup in football.

Family

Patnaik was married to Gyan Patnaik, who belonged to Punjab, due to which he is known as a son-in-law of Punjab as well. Patnaik's wife too was a pilot. She was the first Indian woman to get a commercial pilot's license. In the 1940s, Gyan Patnaik accompanied Biju in the freedom struggle movement and evacuation of British families from Rangoon when the Japanese laid siege on the region.

Patnaik's younger son, Naveen Patnaik, is the current Chief Minister of Odisha. His daughter, Gita Mehta, was an author. His elder son Prem Patnaik is a Delhi-based industrialist.

Commemoration

The Government of Odisha has named several institutions after the name of Biju Patanaik. They include the Biju Patnaik Airport at Bhubaneswar, the Biju Patnaik University of Technology, Biju Patnaik Stadium at Nalco Nagar, Angul etc. Also his son Naveen Patnaik made his birthday 5 March as the Panchayat Raj Divas, a holiday in Odisha in his memory. The Biju Patnaik 5 Rupee commemorative coin was released in 2016. The glimpse of Biju Patnaik's stature can be understood by the fact that when he died, his coffin was wrapped in the national flags of India, Russia, and Indonesia. [13]

Biju Patnaik Memorial

A commemorative Postage stamp was released by India Post to mark his 102nd birth anniversary.[14][15][16]

Personal life

Patnaik was an avid Bridge player,[17]

Legislative history

House Constituency[18] Start End[19] Party Notes
11th Lok Sabha
Aska
 1996 17 April 1997* Janata Dal *Expired
10th Vidhan Sabha Bhubaneswar 1990 1995 Janata Dal
9th Vidhan Sabha Bhubaneswar 1985 1990 Janata
8th Lok Sabha
Kendrapara
 1984 25 March 1985* *Resigned
7th Lok Sabha Kendrapara 1980
8th Vidhan Sabha Patkura 1980 11 June 1980* Janata (S) *Resigned[citation needed]
6th Lok Sabha Kendrapara 1977
6th Vidhan Sabha Rajnagar 1974 1977 Utkal Congress
Rajya Sabha Odisha 13 May 1971 6 October 1971 Janata Dal
3rd Vidhan Sabha Choudwar 1961 1967 Congress
2nd Vidhan Sabha
Surada
 1957 1961 Congress
1st Vidhan Sabha
Jagannathprasad
 1951 1957 Congress

See also

References

  1. ^ "Tall Man Of Odisha" – via odishabytes.com.
  2. ^ "Ajit Singh praises Biju Patnaik". Zee News (Zee Media Corporation Ltd). 5 March 2013. Archived from the original on 28 July 2014.
  3. ^ Joshi, Dina Krishna (2010). "Biju Patnaik: The Legendary Hero" (PDF). Orissa Review. 2010 (2, February/March): 53–56, page 55. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 August 2014.
  4. ^ "Biju Patnaik Biography – Biju Patnaik Profile, Childhood, Life, Timeline". India Guide (iloveindia.com). Archived from the original on 22 June 2014.
  5. ^ "Biju Patnaik". The Economist. 24 April 1997. Archived from the original on 20 October 2014.
  6. ^ Singh, Kuldip (2 May 1997). "Obituary: Biju Patnaik". The Independent. Archived from the original on 15 February 2015.
  7. ^ Ansari, Javed M. (15 September 1995). "The Hero in Winter". India Today. Archived from the original on 26 February 2016.
  8. ^ "Megawati Sukarnoputri meets Sushma Swaraj, recalls story behind her name". The Economic Times. The Economic Times. 23 April 2015. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  9. ^ Kuldip, Singh (May 1997). "Obituary: Biju Patnaik". The Independent. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  10. ISSN 0971-751X
    . Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  11. ^ "Biju Patnaik dead". Rediff.com. 18 April 1997. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
  12. ^ "'Biju Babu was a man of the masses and a visionary'". Sunday Guardian Live. The Sunday Guardian. 30 July 2016. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  13. ^ "Biju Babu': Only Indian Whose Mortal Remains Were Wrapped In The Flags Of Three Countries'". Odisha Bytes. Odisha Bytes Bureau. 17 April 2022. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  14. ^ "Odisha CM Releases Postage Stamp On Biju Patnaik". OMMCOM NEWS. 5 March 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  15. ^ "Postage Stamp On Biju Patnaik Unveiled". odishanewsinsight.com. ONI Bureau. 6 March 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  16. ^ "Odisha: Postage Stamp On Biju Patnaik Released". sambadenglish.com. 5 March 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  17. ^ Kuldip, Singh (May 1997). "Obituary: Biju Patnaik". The Independent. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  18. ^ List of Members of Odisha Legislative Assembly (1951–2004) Archived 17 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  19. ^ "Shri Biju Patnaik, J.D. – Aska (Odisha)".

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Biju Patnaik.
Preceded by
Chief Minister of Odisha

28 June 1961 to 2 October 1963 (1st term)
5 March 1990 to 15 March 1995 (2nd term) 		Succeeded by
Janaki Ballabh Pattanaik
(2nd term)
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