About
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| Bijayananda Patnaik (5 March 1916 – 17 April 1997), better known as Biju Patnaik (Odia: ବିଜୁ ପଟନାୟକ).He was a politician and Chief Minister of Odisha for two terms.
Biju Patnaik was born on 5 March 1916 to Lakshminarayan and Ashalata Patnaik.
He got married to Gyan Patnaik & had three Children Prem Patnaik, Naveen Patnaik, Gita Mehta.
He was educated at Ravenshaw College in Odisha but due to his interest in aviation he dropped out and trained as a pilot. Patnaik flew with private airlines but at the start of the second world war he joined the Royal Indian Air Force eventually becoming head of air transport command. |
Activities
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| Pattnaik's political ideals were centered in socialism and federalism.
In 1946 Pattnaik was elected uncontested to the Odisha Legislative Assembly from North Cuttack constituency. In 1952 and 1957 he won from Jagannath Prasad and Surada, respectively. In 1961 he assumed the presidency of the state Congress. Under his leadership, the Congress Party won 82 of 140 seats and Patnaik (representing Chowdwar constituency) became the chief minister of Odisha on 23 June 1961 and remained in the position until 2 October 1963 when he resigned from the post under the Kamaraj Plan to revitalise the Congress party. He was the Chief Minister of Odisha at the age of 45.
He had clashin 1969 over the Presidential election with Congress. 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 re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1996 from Cuttack and Aska constituencies as a Janata Dal candidate.
In 1992, Bijayananda 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." |
Role In Society
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| He quote about the people & state of Odisha was "To be born poor is not a crime but to remain so is indeed a crime'. 'Be loyal not to me but to the destiny of the State'. 'Odisha is a rich state where poor people live'. 'Be a pride to your State and not a shame'."
Biju Patnaik set up Kalinga tubes,Airways,Iron work,Refractories and the Kalinga, a daily Odia Newspaper. In 1951 he established the international Kalinga Prize for popularisation of Science and Technology among the people and entrusted the responsibility to the UNESCO. The projects which he was known to have spearheaded includes the Hirakud Dam, Port of Paradip, Odisha aviation centre, Bhubaneswar Airport, the Cuttack-Jagatpur Mahanadi highway bridge, Regional Engineering College, Rourkela, Sainik School Bhubaneswar, Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology-Bhubaneswar, NALCO (National Aluminum Company), Rourkela Steel Plant and the Choudwar & Barbil industrial belts.
He also established the Kalinga Cup in football. |