Maker Of Modern Odisha Biju Patnaik On His 26th Death Anniv; Lesser Known Facts About ‘The Tall Man’

Odisha remembered its legendary and charismatic leader Biju Patnaik on his 26th death anniversary on Monnday. People from all sections of life and political leaders cutting across party lines paid rich tributes to the former Chief Minister of the State.

Biju Patnaik is undoubtedly the most popular name in Odisha. A pilot, visionary and leader of the masses, Biju Babu, as he was popularly called, has left an inedible impression with his daredevilry acts.

Former chief minister and former union minister Biju Patnaik had passed away on April 17, 1997 after which his younger son Naveen Patnaik entered politics and formed the BJD.

Since his entry into politics, Naveen has not lost any election as the president of Biju Janata Dal.

An ace pilot, Biju Babu’s role in India’s freedom struggle was as adventurous as his exploits in Indonesia. During the Quit India Movement, he had air-dropped leaflets for Indian soldiers fighting against Myanmar as part of the British Indian armed forces. He actively ferried freedom fighters from one place to another during the struggle for independence under dangerous circumstances.

Here are a few lesser known facts about the legendary leader.

• He was born to an Odia father Lakshminarayan Patnaik and a Bengali mother Ashalata Devi in Cuttack on March 5, 1916, but his parental home is in Bellaguntha, Ganjam.
• He was a sports and adventure lover. He was the key player in the football team of Ravenshaw Collegiate School that won the inter-school championship for three years.
• He is known to have cycled all the way from Cuttack to Peshawar in the year 1932 on the ‘Visit India Mission’ to spread the message of humanity. He accomplished this feat by covering a distance of roughly 4500 miles.
• He dropped out of Ravenshaw College and had joined as a trainee pilot in the Royal Air Force of British Empire at the beginning of the Second World War. During World War II, he rescued several British families that were imprisoned by the Japanese.
• Though he had been honoured by British rulers for his act of releasing the British families from the Japanese, he was sent to jail for two years in 1943 by the British for taking freedom fighters to secret places in his plane.
• Determined to fight against the Axis forces, he also helped the Soviet Army fight Hitler during World War II and was honoured by the Russians for his service.
• During the struggle for the Independence of India, his house at Delhi served as a safe house for several freedom fighters. So much so that his house came to be popularly known as Absconder’s paradise.
• On the direction of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Biju Patnaik and his wife Gyan, a Punjabi from Lahore who was also a pilot, flew to Java and rescued Sultan Sjahrir, the former Prime Minister of Indonesia, from the Dutch. He brought Sultan Sjahrir out on a Dakota and reached India via Singapore on July 24, 1947. He was awarded the ‘Bhoomi Putra’ as well as the Bintang Jasa Utama awards, the highest honorary awards of Indonesia for his act of bravery.
• Biju and Gyan had named the Indonesian President Sukarna’s daughter ‘Megawati’, which means goddess of clouds. She later became Indonesia’s first female president Megawati Sukarnoputri.
• He under the instructions of Jawaharlal Nehru, flew the 1-Sikh regiment commanded by Lt. Col. Dewan Ranjit Rai into Srinagar, Kashmir in October 1947 under the very noses of the enemies.
• He was elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly in Odisha, representing the North Cuttack constituency, even if didn’t contest in it. He served as the Chief Minister of Odisha for two consecutive terms from the year 1990 to his death in the year 1997.
• He spent two years in jail after the Emergency was declared in the nation in the year 1975. He was one of the first among the opposition leaders to be arrested during the Emergency.
• He is known to have spearheaded several projects such as setting up the Kalinga Airlines, The Port of Paradip, Regional Engineering College (now NITR), Kalinga tubes, Kalinga Refractories, Kalinga newspaper, etc. He supported and boosted the industrial and academic growth of the state of Odisha.
• Being the President of the Kalinga Foundation Trust, Biju Baba made a donation in the year 1952 to set up the Kalinga Prize for the Popularisation of Science. The prize is awarded by UNESCO to people who present their scientific ideas in a way that reaches the masses.
• Under the stewardship of Biju Babu, the CIA and Indian Intelligence helped form the Tibetan Guerilla Force which boosted the Tibetan resistance against the People’s Republic of China in the year 1962.
• He breathed his last not in Naveen Niwas in Bhubaneswar, but at the Delhi home of the then Union Minister Dilip Ray.
• Upon his death, Biju Patnaik’s body was wrapped in the flags of three countries- India, Russia, and Indonesia, all honouring his bravery.