New Delhi: Nishikant Dubey’s controversial remarks about former Odisha chief minister Biju Patnaik has led to a political row, with the latter’s son Naveen Patnaik saying that the BJP MP needs “mental doctor’s attention” for his “outrageous” remarks.
“I don’t think he knows that the Prime Minister, Shri (Jawaharlal) Nehru put an office next to his, in Delhi, while Biju babu was still the Chief Minister of Odisha, to do the tactics and fight the Chinese,” the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president told reporters Monday.
“I was very young at the time, about 13 years old but I remember how furious Biju babu was with the Chinese at the time and how much he did to repel it,” Naveen, a former Odisha chief minister himself, added.
Last week, Dubey had called the Nehru-Gandhi family the “brokers of America” in the 1960s, dragging the ‘Kalinga Putra’ into the controversy. “Biju Patnaik, the then chief minister of Odisha, was a link between the US government, the CIA, and Nehru. Even the officials were aware of this,” the BJP MP said.
Following the remarks, Rajya Sabha member Sasmit Patra resigned from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and IT headed by Dubey, opposing his “disrespectful remarks”.
In a post on X, Patra explained that he was resigning “in protest and as a matter of principle”. “I cannot, in good conscience, continue to serve under someone who makes such disrespectful remarks about a national icon,” he asserted.
On Monday, the BJD staged a walkout from the Rajya Sabha, protesting against the remarks. “Biju Janata Dal does not disturb the House but today we want to place on record our serious protest against the disparaging, false and concocted statements made by MP Shri Nishikant Dubey ji against Shri Biju Patnaik ji,” Patra said, soon after the official listed papers were laid on the table
Pointing out that Dubey called Patnaik a ‘CIA agent’, Patra said, “This is the level today to which the ruling party has fallen to say that Biju Patnaik ji is a CIA agent. This is utterly shameful. The BJD strongly opposes it and in protest, we are walking out.”
However, on Monday, Dubey clarified that his remarks were a part of his series on the ‘Nehru-Gandhi family’, and added that Biju Patnaik was a “tall freedom fighter”.
“The BJP never faltered in showing respect to him…When the Congress did injustice with Biju babu, the Jan Sangh and the BJP stood by him…I repeat that I am releasing a series on the acts of the Nehru-Gandhi family. Tell me, which allegation did I level at Biju babu in my tweet?” Dubey asked.
Later, BJP MP Baijayant Jay Panda also weighed in, describing “Biju uncle” as a “towering personality, not just Odisha’s tallest leader of his era, but among the leading lights of the nation.”
“Most importantly, he was one of the greatest patriots of modern Bharat,” the former BJD leader wrote in a post on X.
Condemning allegations against the former Odisha CM, Panda asserted, “Casting aspersions on his patriotism is fantastical & patently ludicrous. Such attacks on him are unworthy, uninformed, & totally unacceptable.”
This is an updated version of the report with Baijayant Jay Panda’s comment
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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Loyalty over everything else , even common sense, that’s the primary reason Modi will be remembered as just another power broker.