Bhubaneswar: BJD MP Sasmit Patra Sunday resigned from a Parliamentary committee headed by BJP lawmaker Nishikant Dubey over the latter’s remark on former Odisha chief minister Biju Patnaik.
Dubey, in a statement March 27, claimed that Biju Patnaik was the link between former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the CIA in the 1960s.
In protest, Patra resigned from the Communications and IT Committee headed by Dubey, while three other party MPs — Manas Mangaraj, Subhasis Khuntia and Muzibulla Khan (Munna Khan) — criticised the BJP MP and accused him of “insulting the pride of Odisha”.
The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) was floated by his son, Naveen Patnaik, after his demise in 1997. He was Odisha’s chief minister twice — from 1961 to 1963, and from 1990 to 1995.
BJD rejected Dubey’s statement and demanded an apology from him.
BJD senior vice president Debi Prasad Mishra said Dubey’s statement was in “bad taste, mischievous and an insult to a patriot”.
“We, as a political party, strongly condemn his statement and demand an apology from him,” Mishra told PTI.
In a letter to the Rajya Sabha chairman March 28, Patra said, “In protest, and as a matter of principle, I am resigning from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and IT under the chairmanship of Shri Nishikant Dubey. I cannot, in good conscience, continue to serve under someone who makes disrespectful remarks about Late Shri Biju Patnaik ji as he did in a public statement.”
Patra also requested the Rajya Sabha chairman to accept his resignation and forward it to the Lok Sabha Speaker, as the committee is under the Lok Sabha.
Patra alleged that Dubey made some “disparaging, false and baseless” statements against Biju Patnaik.
“Biju Patnaik is widely known for having played a pivotal role in India’s diplomacy. He was respected for his role in rescuing Indonesian freedom fighters. He was known for his role in supporting the Russians during the Second World War,” Patra said.
The BJD’s Rajya Sabha MP noted that Biju Patnaik was respected for his role in the freedom movement.
“But to link him to certain disparaging references and the way the statement was made is extremely unfortunate,” Patra said.
He criticised the BJP for its claim of being a champion of ‘Odia Asmita’ (Odia pride).
“They speak about ‘Odia Asmita’, but stoop to such levels to say such disparaging, false and concocted statements against a legend, a statesman like Biju Babu,” Patra said.
In his statement to the media, Dubey had said, “America had sent its troops and CIA agents to Tibet, fearing that China would one day take over Tibet. The Dalai Lama and his brother were in constant contact with the US government. Nehru fought the entire 1962 war with China with American money and in collaboration with CIA agents. Biju Patnaik, the then chief minister of Odisha, was a link between the US government, the CIA, and Nehru.”
He further said Odisha’s Charbatia airport, in which Biju Patnaik was heavily involved, was a base for U2 aircraft, and the airbase housed US military from 1963 to 1979.
