Biju Patnaik: A Perspective in Nation-Building

The Background

Biju Patnaik, an indomitable personality in Indian politics, shaped the political course from the days of freedom struggle. He was a close associate of Nehru, who called him the ‘Indian buccaneer’. He shaped the opposition politics with the formation of the Janata Party in 1977 and steered the non-Congress political movement since then. The Note delineates some of the achievements and contributions of Biju Patnaik during the contemporary period.

Rarely a leader emerges among the masses, who on account of their incomparable contribution leaves an indelible mark on the local, state, national and international level. A leader who had hardly remained in power for a decade, as the Chief Minister of Odisha state (1961–1963 & 1990–1995) and as a Union Minister (1977–1980) but had a tremendous influence and aura in national political dynamics, simply because of his daredevil, and more importantly a do-or-die, attitude. Biju Patnaik was associated with the freedom struggle of not only India but also Indonesia. He was closely associated with all the political luminaries of India until his death on 17 April 1997. It is a strange coincidence that both Netaji Subash Chandra Bose and Biju Patnaik were born in Cuttack City, and both had very similar natural traits and sense of immense patriotism and love for the nation. His personality was such that no one ever dared to speak up in front of him. ‘He is addicted to authoritarian methods and will stop at nothing in his pursuit of power. He won repute in Congress, by retrieving the party’s fortunes in the 1961 mid-term elections in Orissa’ (Hangen, 1963, p. 100). He instituted the international UNESCO Kalinga Award for the Popularization of Science in 1951, which is being awarded since then for exceptional skill in presenting scientific ideas to lay people.

Aviation Skill Role

Biju Patnaik rose to national prominence due to his aviation skill. He joined the Royal Indian Air Force in 1936 and, during the Second World War, eventually became the head of air transport command. He flew air transport to Burma to help the British forces fighting the Japanese in the Second World War. Biju’s adventure in flying extended to ‘flying missions to resupply the Soviet Red Army, which was besieged by German forces in Stalingrad’ (George, 2019). His stellar role in flying his plane to the erstwhile Soviet Union during the Second World War to help the war efforts against Hitler commanded respect in the international arena (Sahu, 2021). The then Prime Minister I.K. Gujral in his obituary reference on 21 April 1997 in Lok Sabha said, ‘For flying across to the embattled Soviet troops during the Second World War, a grateful Russia conferred honour upon Shri Biju Patnaik for the overtime services to the country, 50 years ago in 1945’. He was an excellent pilot, and this excellence and contribution to freedom struggle brought him close to many freedom fighters including Dr Ram Manohar Lohia, Jayaprakash Narayan, Aruna Asaf Ali, and others. He was supporting the freedom struggle due to his nationalist and patriotic fervour. His collusion with India’s freedom struggle ultimately landed him in prison from 1943 to 1946 by the British. By the time he was released, he had contact with Nehru which went on until the latter’s death.

Two very important events took place in 1947 that had wider ramifications in the international politics. The first in July 1947, when Nehru told Biju Patnaik to help the Indonesian people in their fight against the Dutch. The Dutch had taken control of the Indonesian archipelago, even though they were driven out by the Japanese during the Second World War, and with the fall of Japan, Indonesia became independent on 17 August 1945. President Sukarno insisted that Vice-President Mohammad Hatta and Prime Minister Sutan Sjahrir must leave Indonesia to gather international support against Dutch excesses and eventually leading to Indonesia’s independence. With exceptional accuracy and brilliant aviation skill, Biju Patnaik was able to fly back from Yogyakarta, safely bringing the two leaders, Vice-President Mohammad Hatta and Prime Minister Sutan Sjahrir to New Delhi via Singapore on 24 July 1947. Later, Indonesia conferred Honorary Citizenship with the title of Bhoomi Putra to him. The obligation of Indonesia was further extended when Biju Patnaik was conferred the highest civilian award Bintang Jasa Utma during the Golden Jubilee Celebration of Indonesia’s independence in 1996. Biju Patnaik also named President Sukarno’s daughter, Meghawati. Nehru wrote in 1947, ‘I pay a tribute to the very gallant Indian airman who brought Dr. Sjahrir to Delhi. He has been known to us for a number of years not only for his great efficiency in flying but also for his adventurous and daring spirit’ (Baskaran, 2017).

In October 1947, during the accession of Kashmir to the Indian Union, Biju Patnaik made much flying in his Dakota DC 3 transport plane from Safdarjung Airport since the morning of 27 October 1947, and transferred troops to Kashmir, and also brought back 17 soldiers of one Sikh regiment under the command of Lt Col Dewan Ranjit Rai. On 6 August 2019, during the debate on bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir and abrogation of Article 370, in the Lok Sabha, this commendable role of the Late Biju Patnaik was raised by Pinaki Mishra, Member from Puri Lok Sabha constituency. He demanded conferment of Bharat Ratna posthumously to Biju Patnaik for his contribution towards nation-building. Biju Patnaik also played a key role in helping the people of Nepal against the atrocious Rana regime of that country and in the democratic movement of 1953. Prime Minister Modi in a tweet on Biju Patnaik’s 104th birth anniversary, on 5 March 2020, shared a ‘classified’ IB letter written by its Deputy Director G. Ahmed on 27 September 1945 that states:

It can be argued that Patnaik may still be a danger so long as conditions on our eastern border do not return to normal — but that would be to state a hypothetical risk.… The Indian National Airways (INA) can be persuaded through Mr Cambridge, the Managing Director, not to take Patnaik back. But if the INA do not re-employ him, Tatas probably will, because he is an excellent pilot.

Odisha in Post-Independence Period

These were two indelible accomplishments that perhaps laid the foundation of the towering personality of Biju Patnaik. The events also happened within a short span of three months that made him an indomitable leader in the inner circle of Nehru. The personal equation between them was of very high order, and this made it possible for institution-building in Odisha. During the decade of 1950, Biju Patnaik was elected to the Odisha Legislative Assembly twice, in 1952 and in 1957. In the 1961 mid-term election, Congress, under his Presidentship, got huge majority in the Odisha Assembly, and Biju Patnaik became the Chief Minister on 23 June 1961 and remained in the office until 2 October 1963. It is an irony that he had to resign from chief ministership under the Kamraj Plan of the Congress party, ‘…attributed to Biju Patnaik, the Orissa Chief Minister, Kamraj, the Madras Chief Minister, and Nehru himself’ (Zachariah, 2004, p. 254).

The Nehru period has been analysed by Brass (1994, p. 37) as ‘state and central politics were largely autonomous’ with central leadership in Congress party, known as the ‘High Command’, playing ‘arbitrating and mediating roles’ with state Congress leaders. Brass (1994) further writes, ‘Moreover, under Nehru, a strong central government coexisted with strong states and powerful state leaders in a mutually bargaining situation in which ultimate authority existed in Delhi’. This was the political condition under which Biju Patnaik was functioning with a strong will to develop and prosper Odisha during the post-Independence period.

Biju Patnaik was instrumental in holding the Bhubaneswar Session of the Indian National Congress that was inaugurated by Prime Minister Nehru on 6 January 1964. On 8 January 1964, Nehru rose to speak but had a near-fall and he had to be supported by Indira Gandhi. Nehru had a mild heart-attack, and he was partially paralysed on the left side. Katherine Frank (2001, pp. 240–241) writes:

Congress leaders like Biju Patnaik, the former Chief Minister of Orissa, urged Indira to take over as Deputy Prime Minister immediately despite the fact that not only was she not a member of the cabinet, she did not even hold an elected position in the government, but Indira refused.

Earlier, Hangen (1963, p. 178) quoted Indira Gandhi saying with finality, ‘Orissa needs a jolt. And under Patnaik it is getting one’. She could probably count on Patnaik’s support for Prime Ministership, as per Hangen.

Referring to 1966–1967 Congress party candidate selection, Morris-Jones (1969, p. 40) writes,

The busy Bijoyananda (‘Biju’) Patnaik under a cloud at the centre, but continuing to enjoy a place in the Orissa sun, first made trouble for his former friend, the Chief Minister, and Congress President K. Kamraj had to step in to prevent Patnaik’s men from bringing down the government.

Rudolph and Rudolph (2008, pp. 70–71), with supporting data of NCERT ‘Educational Statistics District Wise 1960–1961’, showed that the state of Odisha was ‘fifth in terms of enrollment for technical/vocational’, while it ranked ‘thirteenth in per capita income and fifteenth in level of development’. They write the following, quoting from Alan J. Sable (1967) and Richard P. Taub (1969), on the pro-industrial policy of the then Chief Minister Biju Patnaik:

The answer lies to a considerable extent in the policy pursued by former Congress Chief Minister Biju Patnaik, who believed that, in the face of the state’s overall backwardness, technical/vocational training was a ‘leading sector’ and could spur the state’s industrialization (Sable, 1967); to a lesser extent he also believed in the biases of Orissa’s leading civil servants who, not unlike their counterparts elsewhere, showed a marked preference for ‘modern’ industry-related programmes, and show a marked dislike for those related to agriculture, villages, and their needs (Taub, 1969; 116-18) (Rudolph & Rudolph, 2008).

Chinese War 1962

Biju Patnaik played a significant role during the Chinese aggression of 1962. It was said that he was the unofficial defence adviser to Prime Minister Nehru and the only civilian who was given office at North Block and also free access to Teen Murti Bhawan (official residence of the Prime Minister). During the war with China, he flew cargo planes to some high-sensitive border areas which other pilots feared to venture (Sahoo, 2020). It was the period when the then Defence Minister and Nehru’s trusted V.K. Krishna Menon had to tender resignation on 28 October 1962, but was made Minister for Defence Production, and was retained in the Cabinet. On 4 November 1962, the National Development Council (NDC) had a meeting, and, in evening, five chief ministers, namely Biju Patnaik of Odisha, K. Kamraj of Madras, Pratap Singh Kairon of Punjab, Sanjiva Reddy of Andhra Pradesh and Y.B. Chavan of Maharashtra, attended a meeting in the Prime Minister’s Office in the South Block, and conveyed the resentment of the party and the country over the continuance of Krishna Menon in the Cabinet (Pradhan, 1999, p. 10). Later, Nehru decided that Y.B. Chavan of Maharashtra will be the new the defence minister. On the night of 19 November 1962, Biju Patnaik visited Chavan upon his arrival in Delhi. Chavan could not say no to meet him and spent almost an hour. Pradhan (1999, pp. 17–18) writes that Biju Patnaik asked Chavan, ‘Why have you come all the way to Delhi? The Chinese are moving in with such speed that they may even reach Bombay very soon’. The next day, Chavan told Pradhan, his Private Secretary, ‘Even before I have assumed office, a good friend has already started lowering my morale’. The Prime Minister had himself told Chavan that Biju Patnaik was lobbying hard to succeed Krishna Menon. Maybe he had not given up his efforts, wrote Pradhan. This indicates that Biju Patnaik had an inclination to join the Union Cabinet, but conditions were not favouring him. ‘His most serious liabilities are his reputation for shady business deals and his dependence on primitive Orissa as a political base. Nevertheless, Patnaik is a man to watch’ (Hangen, 1963, p. 279). It is quite intriguing that with such a great degree of reciprocity between Nehru and Biju Patnaik, and with the national and international prominence, Biju Patnaik was never inducted into the Union Cabinet neither by Nehru nor by his daughter Indira Gandhi.

During the Chinese aggression, the IB Director B.N. Mullick, in November 1962, requested Nehru to establish a secret service on the pattern of Second World War Special Duties Service (SD). This would be assisted by CIA of America with small Lysander aircraft, training Tibetan persons to collect secret information, with other supports. Agreeing to the proposal, Nehru appointed Biju Patnaik as the political point person in charge of dealing with the Americans. Patnaik had carte blanche in this regard, and it was up to him how to steer the relationship away from any domestic political fallout (Malhotra, 2021, p. 301). In December 1962, Biju Patnaik along with an officer of IB, R.N. Kao, went to Washington DC and met Robert ‘Moose’ Marrero, former US Marines aviator and the then CIA air operations specialist. As the two pilots conversed, they recognised the need for a thorough review of the airlift requirements for clandestine warfare in the high Himalayas (Malhotra, 2021, p. 302). The success of the meeting resulted in an intelligence cooperation agreement between CIA and IB, with the establishment of the Aviation Research Centre (ARC) on 4 June 1963 in Charbatia, Odisha, code-named as ‘Oak Tree’.

Indira Regime

After the sudden death of Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri in January 1966, the Congress ‘Syndicate’, reposed faith in Indira Gandhi to be the next Prime Minister, over other aspirants including, Morarji Desai, Gulzarilal Nanda, S.K. Patil, Y.B. Chavan, Sanjiva Reddy and Kamraj himself (Hangen, 1963). In 1967 general elections, the Congress gained majority in Lok Sabha, but lost majority in seven states, including Odisha. In the 1967 general elections, not only Biju Patnaik lost from Odisha but also other prominent members of the Congress ‘Syndicate’ lost, for example, Kamraj from Madras, S.K. Patil from Bombay and Atulya Ghosh from Bengal, and, for Indira, all these were ‘sweet defeats’ (Frank, 2001, p. 271). Subsequently, in the 1969 Presidential elections, Indira Gandhi supported V.V. Giri and told Congress leaders to vote as per ‘conscience’, thereby going against the official nominee of the Congress N. Sanjiva Reddy. On 20 August 1969, V.V. Giri was declared elected, and, on 13 November 1969, the Congress split into Congress (R) under Indira Gandhi (R being Requisitionist) and Congress (O) under the Syndicate members (O being Organisation). Biju Patnaik remained in the Congress (R) till in May 1970, when he left it and formed the Utkal Congress. In the 1971 Assembly elections, he was defeated from the Bhubaneswar Assembly seat but made an alliance with R.N. Singhdeo, leader of the Swatantra Party, and together they won the state Assembly elections and formed the government under Bishwanath Das in Odisha. In 1974, all the members of Utkal Congress merged with the Bharatiya Lok Dal under Charan Singh.

Emergency and Janata Party

Biju Patnaik was included in the first group of leaders who were arrested in the wake of the Emergency under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) in June 1975. He was lodged in Rohtak Jail and released from detention early in November 1975 along with Charan Singh, Piloo Mody, Ashoka Mehta, Surendra Mohan and Jayaprakash Narayan. Indira Gandhi’s opponents began small steps towards resolving policy and organisational issues even during the late autumn of 1976 (Austin, 1991, p. 396). In February 1976, Indira Gandhi postponed the general elections and extended the Emergency. Biju Patnaik wrote a letter in March 1976 to his party Chairman Charan Singh, ‘praising the gains of the Emergency, expressing his elation over Young Sanjay’s exhortation to his party workers, and stressing the need to stop political quibbling for some time to get on with the task of nation-building at the grass-roots level’ (Chandra, 2003, p. 213). This indicates that Biju Patnaik was somehow inclined to make compromise with the ruling regime under Indira Gandhi.

On 18 January 1977, Indira Gandhi announced the general elections will be held within two months’ time and subsequently it was held on 16 March. After much deliberations, the various opposition parties, Congress (O), Bharatiya Lok Dal, Jan Sangh and Socialist Party, finally agreed on 20 January 1977 to merge and formed the Janata Party under a common symbol and projected Morarji Desai to be their unanimous leader. On 2 February 1977, a splinter group of the Congress, under the leadership of Jagjivan Ram, broke away from it and formed the Congress for Democracy (CFD). The other leaders in this party were H.N. Bahuguna (former UP Chief Minister) and Nandini Satpathy (former Chief Minister of Odisha). The CFD, along with Communist Party of India (CPM), Akali Dal and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) made seat adjustments with Janata Party. The results of the elections brought the Janata Party to power, and the alliance together won 299 seats and Congress won 153 seats in the Lok Sabha. Biju Patnaik became the Union Minister for Steel and Mines in the Morarji Desai cabinet.

After assuming office, the Janata Party government dissolved ten state Assemblies where the Congress was in power and held fresh elections in June 1977. This dissolution was a big controversy then, and it went up to the Supreme Court which gave a favorable order on 29 April 1977. On the same day, leaders of the Janata Party met at the Duplex Road residence of Prime Minister Desai. Austin (1999, p. 446) writes: in an interview Ramakrishna Hegde, the then General Secretary of Janata Party, said that Desai, Jagjivan Ram, Shanti Bhusan and H.M. Patel were against the dissolution of the state Assemblies, but the then Home Minister Charan Singh was adamant and was joined by H.N. Bahuguna and Biju Patnaik. Finally, Desai yielded to the pressure and the state Assemblies were dissolved. Elections were held in June 1977, and the Janata party was elected to power in seven states—Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. In Punjab, the party formed a coalition government with the Akali Dal. In Tamil Nadu, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) under M.G. Ramachandran was elected to power.

In September 1979, Biju Patnaik ventured to accomplish a merger between the DMK led by Karunanidhi and the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK) led by M.G. Ramchandran in the state of Tamil Nadu. He visited both the leaders on 12 September and persuaded them to merge, with the proposition that M.G. Ramachandran would continue to be the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and Karunanidhi would become the head of the unified party (Baskaran, n.d.). Anil Dhir citing the autobiography of Karunanidhi, titled, Nenjukku Needhi, said that it was he who referred Biju Patnaik as Uyarnta Manithan [tall man] (Odisha Diary, 2018). However, the merger that would have brought tremendous effect on Tamil Nadu politics could not transform into a reality. The motive of Biju Patnaik to bring a merger was to cease the poll alliance between Congress and the DMK in the forthcoming elections to the Lok Sabha and Assembly. Pranab Mukherjee (2016, p. 16) writes that, in May–June 1980 elections, the Congress came to power in some states except Tamil Nadu, where the Congress–DMK alliance failed to dislodge the AIADMK from power.

Prime Minister Vajpayee, during the discussion on the Motion of Confidence, on 27 May 1996, alleged that he remembered the day when Biju Patnaik split the Janata Party and took Chaudhury Charan Singh to South Block, in July 1979. ² If what Vajpayee said is correct, then one can imagine Biju Patnaik’s influence and hold over the contemporary national political scene.

To the above allegation of Vajpayee, Nilamani Routray, former Chief Minister of Odisha and former Union Minister in V.P. Singh government, and a close associate of Biju Patnaik, wrote in his autobiography, Smruti O’ Anubhuti (1986, p. 716) that people did not vote the Janata (S) party to power in the 1980 Lok Sabha election as they knew about the deep internal conflicts of the power-hungry leaders who broke the Janata Party and its Government. He writes that Biju Patnaik did not contemplate the dissatisfaction of the public for his and Rabi Ray’s (the then Union Health Minister in Desai Government) involvement in breaking the party and the government and forming the Janata (S) party and government under the leadership of Chaudhury Charan Singh in July 1979. Further, Basanta Das (2017, p. 287) writes about the involvement of Rabi Ray in taking four members of Lok Sabha and making them join the break-away group of the Janata Party (Secular or (S)) under Raj Narain. Later, Biju Patnaik, George Fernandes and H.N. Bahuguna also joined the Janata (S), along with Charan Singh. He also had a good link with Karpoori Thakur of Bihar.

Biju Patnaik as Union Minister

Biju Patnaik had a desire to join the Nehru cabinet after the resignation of V.K. Krishna Menon as his Defence Minister. However, with all his accessibility to Prime Minister Nehru, this could not happen. Subsequently, after Nehru’s death, Biju Patnaik gradually faded out in Congress politics under compelling circumstances, and thereafter it was not feasible for him to return to the Congress fold again. He then consolidated his base in the non-Congress politics with the culmination of the Janata Party in 1977, and after the Lok Sabha election, Morarji Desai became the Prime Minister, and Biju Patnaik was made the Union Minister for Steel and Mines in the Janata Party government.

Biju Patnaik had a dream to make a second steel plant in Odisha, after the Rourkela Steel Plant. He got the golden opportunity to establish the second steel plant in Odisha when there was a proposal for a heavy steel industry to be set up in Salem. He cleverly changed it to a small stainless steel manufacturing company and created the stage for setting up the heavy steel industry at Paradip Port City. The justification behind the change to Paradip in Odisha was also a valid point, as the raw materials were available in Odisha and Bihar (now Jharkhand), and thus would considerably reduce the transportation cost thereby the price of the steel also. This proves the intelligence of this person and his dedication for the industrialisation of his state of Odisha. However, the second steel plant never became a reality. He played an important role in taking forward the cause of the Vizag steel plant, the first shore-based one in India (Sahu, 2021). Whatever it may be, Biju Patnaik was the founder of the conceptualisation of establishing port-based steel plant (Routray, 1986, p. 680).

National Front (NF) Government

After the 1989 Lok Sabha elections, Chandrashekhar was interested to be the Prime Minister of the country, in case Devi Lal disagreed to be the consensus nominee and opposed V.P. Singh. This was on 1 December 1989 when the events were chalked out at Odisha Bhawan in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, personally supervised by none other than Biju Patnaik, for the selection of the Parliamentary Party leader. The Janata Dal finally convened its Parliamentary Board meeting at 3:15 pm on 1 December in Parliament’s Central Hall. The meeting was presided by Madhu Dandavate, and V.P. Singh proposed the name of Devi Lal to be the leader that was seconded by Chandrasekhar. Dandavate declared Devi Lal to be elected. Then Devi Lal thanked V.P. Singh and, expressing his inability, said that the election result was really a fight against the corruption of the Rajiv Gandhi government and the leading warrior was V.P. Singh. Hence, he proposed V.P. Singh’s name, which was immediately seconded by Ajit Singh. V.P. Singh was declared to be elected by Dandavate. Ajit Singh was earlier briefed over telephone by Arun Nehru. This was the dramatic turn of events and V.P. Singh was destined to be the prime minister. In the whole process, Biju Patnaik earned the distinction of ‘kingmaker’. Though the government continued, with the whole lot of leaders and parties, differences and conflicts were a recurrent feature, and Biju Patnaik, who was then the Chief Minister of Odisha was immediately relied and called upon to solve the tension within the NF government. His frequent role in solving the crisis in the NF government from 1 December 1989 to 7 November 1990 earned him the acronym of PCM (principal crisis manager). During this period, Odisha Bhawan in New Delhi became a power centre.

The major conflict between the leaders occurred when Devi Lal, the Deputy Prime Minister, declared to hold a mega farmers’ rally at Boat Club in New Delhi in August 1990. Prior to this announcement, there were differences between Devi Lal and V.P. Singh. Singh viewed the mega farmers rally as a direct threat to his leadership, and, in anticipation of any adverse step by Devi Lal, he announced the implementation of the recommendation of the Mandal Commission Report for 27% job reservation for ‘Other Backward Castes’ on 7 August 1990. This decision was the turning point of the NF government that finally led to withdrawal of support by the BJP to the NF government. Biju Patnaik, initially, did not support the Mandal Commission implementation and was dissatisfied with the Prime Minister. He criticised the hastiness with which V.P. Singh acted.

Saba Naqvi (1990) writes,

Chief Minister Biju Patnaik does not need V. P. Singh’s help to create a ‘vote bank’. He has a clear majority in the Assembly, one reason why he has turned out to be the rare Janata Dal Chief Minister who has not merely decided against implementing the Report but also come out publicly against caste-based reservations.

Lok Sabha Debates in 1996–1997

On 27 May 1996 during the Motion of Confidence in favour of the Atal Behari Vajpayee government, Biju Patnaik remarked during the discussion that Mr Prime Minister started so well in his line of persuasion that many of us thought to go and join you, ‘but in the meantime you touched on points that dissuaded us from joining. When you talk of secularism and non-secularism, you are propagating the voice of non-secularism, and why? That was not your intention but why have you done it…’. This shows his commitment to the principle of secularism and his aversion to the role of pseudo-secularism in politics.

He was more akin with the socialist brand of politics of Ram Manohar Lohia, Jayaprakash Narayan and their young follower Madhu Limaye. At the party’s annual session in Bhubaneswar, leftist spokesmen such as Menon, Bijoyananda Patnaik and K.D. Malviya urged more nationalisation in all sectors, while S.K. Patil and Morarji Desai from the right rejected it (Rudolph & Rudolph, 2008, pp. 335–336).

While participating in the debate on the Representation of the People (Second Amendment) Bill, on 26 July 1996, Biju Patnaik suggested certain note for future guidance. First, making ‘every voter’ or ‘every vote’ to be ‘mandatory’, and if a person does not vote being a voter, has to pay a substantive fine. Second, for somebody to get elected, must also get 50% of the votes. Third, he spoke of state funding of elections, as many candidates are required to spend crores of rupees to get themselves elected to this House.

Biju Patnaik also agreed to the amendments brought by George Fernandes, when the latter suggested that one person should not be allowed to contest from more than one constituency, as per the Bill. Fernandes gave the examples of three leaders, namely Biju Patnaik, Atal Behari Vajpayee and Narasimha Rao, who were victorious in both constituencies, and had to resign from one, in the then existing House.

Biju Patnaik expressed his concern for the system failure in India. He was broad-minded in his approach, for which he never blamed a particular person, but tried to address the problem in a ‘holistic’ manner, where the ‘top’ person managing the whole affair has to enthuse the system. He cited the example of railway lines, where the British laid 58,000 miles of lines, while India had added only 8,000 miles. He also gave the example of steel production where India produced 15 million tons per annum, while China produced 110 million tons.

Biju Patnaik strongly favoured women representation in representative institutions. He started the policy of 33% reservations for women in Panchayati Raj Institutions in Odisha. During the discussion on the Constitution (Eighty-First Amendment) Bill (Insertion of Articles 330A & 332A) on 12 September 1996, he said, ‘We started the reservation for women…. Unless there is reservation for them, they will never come up’.

Biju Patnaik during the Motion of Thanks to President’s address in Lok Sabha on 3 March 1997, with the reference to the Kashmir issue, said,

When Vajpayee ji went out after making his submissions, did anybody say anything at that time.… In 1947 I flew down in a plane. None of you came. I contained the Pakistan Army there. You are continuously discussing the Kashmir issue. You are trying to make it an issue of Hinduism. Please talk about the country and not Hinduism. ³

This was his view on the Kashmir issue vis-à-vis the BJP’s stand in the perspective of nationalism and Hinduism.

Conclusion

Nilamani Routray (1986, p. 707), on the nature and style of Biju Patnaik, wrote: ‘Biju Patnaik’s unjustified adventurist nature is more responsible, and not jealousy or selfish attitude’. He was a daredevil type of person, who embraced adventure without having a second thought.

Welles Hangen, the author of the famous book, After Nehru, Who?, writes:

Bijoyananda Patnaik, the youthful millionaire businessman who retrieved Congress fortunes in Orissa, is a more sinister figure. He could embrace extremism of Left or Right with equal fervor. For tactical reasons he has opted for Menon’s socialism, but principles will never interfere with his political mobility…. Patnaik still lacks national stature, but he is dangerous because he combines political cunning and a certain demagogic appeal with Menon-like drive and ambition. He is unscrupulous and autocratic without needlessly alienating his followers, as Menon does (1963, p. 279).

Biju Patnaik was an industrialist with a business empire of ₹175 crore during the 1950s, which was a huge amount then. His Kalinga Airlines has a fleet of 25 aircrafts. He started the Paradip Port with an investment of ₹16 crore in 1962 which was later taken over by the government in 1966. In 1992, he gave a message to the people of Odisha and uttered,

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.

President Sukarno presented him with a 100-acre estate in Palimbang, the seat of the Kalinga empire, which he returned, jokingly: ‘The King of Kalinga doesn’t accept gifts from his subjects’ (Biswas, 1993). His stature was such that, after his death, his body was draped not only with our national flag but also with those of Russia and Indonesia, a rare distinction for any statesman.

The Speaker P.A. Sangma in Obituary Reference in Lok Sabha on 21 April 1997 said, ‘In the sixties, when he was Chief Minister for the first time, along with Governor Ayodhyanath Khosla, launched a Decade of Destiny and ushered in an era of industrialisation in the State’. Somnath Chatterjee, in his reference said, ‘Biju Patnaik believed that unless the states become strong, India can never be a strong nation and that is why, when he fought for Orissa’s development, it was not by reason of any narrow consideration but to make India stronger as a whole’. The state, one of the poorest and most backward in India, has become in effect another department of Patnaik’s giant Kalinga Enterprises (Hangen, 1963, p. 100).