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Biju Patnaik : Architect and Builder ofModern Odisha

Dr. Dasarathi Bhuyan

Biju Patnaik was a towering and multi-dimensionalpersonality no less than a colossus in every senseof the term. This legendary leader and idol of themasses had almost a hectic and uninterruptedpolitical career serving his state and the countryin different capacities. The uncrowned hero ofKalinga, maker of new Odisha and formidablepersonality of Odisha politics, Biju Patnaik, wasborn on March 5, 1916 at Cuttack, Odisha.Indeed he was luckily to be born in a patrioticfamily. Lakshminarayan Patnaik, father of Bijuwas a natural inhabitant of village Nuagaon inbetween Bhanjanager and Belluguntha ofGhumushar area in Ganjam. Ghumushar has beena most important nerve centre of Odishanliterature and culture. Village Nuagaon that issituated a few miles below the Kalinga hill is theundying testimony of Kalinga region. Ghumusharis known outside for its unique contribution to theOriya literature. The tribes of Ghumusar had givena tough fight to the Britishers for a long time during1766 to 1880. In short, the history of Gumusharis the endless story of rare glory, greatness, glitter,glamour, patriotism and rebellions all through thepages of history.

Laxminarayan Patnaik came to Cuttackand settled in Tulashipur area in a house knownas Anand Bhawan. Very soon Laxminarayanassociated with the leaders of Odishanrenaissance and became a pioneer of the

formation of the Odisha movement. His wifeAshalata Devi, came from a Bengali family whohad sacrificed their lives in the struggle forfreedom. Brothers of Ashalata Devi-Bijayasri,Deva Prasad and Anand Prasad were therevolutionary youths who along with Surya Senwere responsible for the Chittagong Armoury Raidof 1930.

Biju inherited the undaunted spirit of hispatriotic father and mother. Biju Patnaik’s life had,indeed, been one of challenges and adventures.These traits in his character led him to manyspectacular achievements. Biju Patnaik wasdescribed by Julian Huxley in his memories as “aremarkable Indian whose adventures will surelyfill a book,” and by Nehru as a man of “energyand certain ability”. He became an ace- pilot.During World War II he did not join the IndianAir Force which attracted many young Indiansbut became a dare devil transport pilot when theBritish commandeered all commercial planes intoa sort of Air command. As he flew these militarytransport missions, he undertook cloak anddagger ventures to help Indian revolutionaries suchas Jayaprakash Narayan, Arun Asaf Ali, AchyutPatwardhan, Manu Bhai Shah and others fightingagainst the British rule.

During those war days he met a Kashmirgirl, Gyan, in Delhi where they played tennis. They

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had earlier once met in her sister’s place. Verysoon they got married in 1939. When the Dutchwere at the throat of the Indonesian Republic,Biju Patnaik flew secret missions into theIndonesian Republic and at the instance of Nehrubrought Sjahariar, the Prime Minister andMohammed Hatta, the Vice President ofIndonesia.

In the summer of 1947 Biju flew toJogjakarta on his helping mission. When Biju wasready with his Dakota plane, his wife Gyan wasready too. She went with him to invigorate hisspirit who had left behind her a few months oldbaby.

To reach Jogjakarta Biju had to fly overJakarta, the capital of the province of Batavia,which was under Dutch control and he was wellaware that the Dutch might try to shoot down hisDakota plane. The next day, on his enroute toJakarta, he was surrounded by Dutch planes. ButBiju flew the Dakota to such heights that, the Dutchpilots could not match their aerobatics and finallythe Dutch pilots moved away form the Dakota.As luck would have it, Biju and Gyan returnedsafely after completing their mission.

Apparently, Biju was far ahead of his timeand society and also most of his party colleaguesin thought and ideas. Much before he becamethe Chief Minister of Odisha, he had a thoroughknowledge about science, economics, politics,geography and history. The new Odisha is theconfluence of ancient Kalinga, Utkala, Odra andKosala. Biju knew very well where the Kalingawas? The Vizag copper grant of 1126 AD depictsthat Chodaganga Dev conquered Odisha andassumed the sovereign title of “Lord of SakalaUtkala”. He established his capital at Jajatinagarand later on shifted to Abhinava Varanasi Katak(Modern Cuttack) in 1212 - 1213 AD.Bhanjanagar, the birth place of Biju’s father was

located in the Kalinga region. The shift of theirparents from Kalinga to Utkal or Odra had a greatemotional impression on his body and mind.No body taught him to feel proud of being asKalingan. It came naturally and the generalambiance of his father encouraged that proud. Hefound Kalinga most interesting in him. The KalingaEmpire became a reality for him. He establishedhis own Airlines christened as Kalinga Airlines.He also established Kalinga Tubes, KalingaRefrigerators Corporation, Kalinga Iron Works,published Kalinga Oriya daily, founded KalingaTrust, and introduced Kalinga Prize. When Bijuset up the Kalinga group of Industries in the late40’s that were the hallmark of his entrepreneurialmind and the perception of a new Odisha. As anardent industrialist people called him the “Birla ofOdisha”. But he lost his mundane life and preciouswealth in politics. Had not in politics he could havemaintained the status of a TATA, BIRLA orAMBANI. That was the reason he nevergroomed his children to play politics. He couldnot see politics as the posterity of his family butliterature. His daughter Gita scripted many novelssuch as ‘Karma Cola’, ‘Raj’, ‘River Sutra’ and‘Snakes and Ladders’. Naveen Patnaik is also aversatile genius in literature. The influence of hispatriotic father, the environment and atmosphereof his cosmopolitan family has tremendous impacton his mind. His books reflect his deep interest inIndian cultural history and tradition. ‘A secondparadise’ dealt with Indian culture, ‘A DesertKingdom’ with Indian history and ‘The Gardenof life’ with India’s environment and traditionalknowledge. All these three books were publishednot just in India but also widely acclaimed in theUSA and Britain.

Biju Patnaik's Reign : An Era ofDevelopment

The 1961 mid-term poll raised thepossibility of an end to political instability, as the

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Congress Party under the dynamic leadership ofBiju Patnaik emerged victorious with a stablemajority. The election result was a surprise tomany. For the first time in the electoral history ofthe State, the Congress Party under the leadershipof Biju Patnaik secured absolute majority bycapturing 82 seats in a House of 140 polling nearly44 per cent of the total votes. Biju Patnaik whoflushed with his magnificent victory in the 1961election was awarded with the Chief Ministershipof the State but appeared to think too much ofhimself. He gave an impression that he was all-powerful to do anything he likes. He made manypromises of bringing about industrialization in theState. However, due to his strong initiative, theconstruction of Paradeep Port and SunabedaMIG factory was started. During his tenure asChief Minister, the Lok Sabha elections were heldin 1962. That was a big opportunity for BijuPatnaik to demonstrate his leadership before theparty High Command. In the election, theCongress could win 14 seats and a massive 55.5per cent of votes. The Ganatantra Parishad whosevote share was 29 per cent in the last Lok Sabhaelection suffered badly with only 17.4 per centvotes. Thus, the massive victory for the CongressParty in the Lok Sabha election during the BijuPatnaik’s tenure as Chief Minister clearlydemonstrated his full control over the party andthe confidence he enjoyed from the people of theState despite factionalism in the party andopposition of the Mahatab group after he becamethe Chief Minister.

In Odisha, Biju Patnaik embarked on thispath of industrialization and development almostwith a reckless abandon. In fact, his first spell ofchiefministership in the 1960’s was an era ofindustrialization and development. Ambitious andenterprising as he was from his boyhood, BijuPatnaik always cherished a dream to industrializeOdisha and turn himself into a top- flightindustrialist by setting up large industries in his state

without any help from capitalists like the Birlas,Dalmias or Tatas and show to the people inOdisha that it was possible for them to take upbig enterprises on their own. After becoming amember of the State Legislative Assembly Bijushowed restlessness to develop industries for him.And with Mahatab at the helm of affairs in thestate Biju had no difficulty in obtaining statepatronage. Mahatab tried to give him all legitimatehelp from government side. With such help Bijuset up Orissa Textile Mills and also KalingaAirlines. Soon he set up other industries likeKalinga Tubes, Kalinga Iron Woks, and KalingaRefrigerator Corporation and in fact becamemonarch of an industrial empire in Odisha.

All his earnings and income derived fromhis business activities were invested in Odisha forthe purpose of setting up industries anddevelopment of scientific and technical educationin Odisha. In 1947 he founded a Public CharitableTrust called the Kalinga Foundation Trust whichestablished the chair of Geology in the UtkalUniversity, the international Kalinga prize forpopularization of science.

It is obvious that in the late forties bothMahatab and Biju Patnaik came close to eachother for their mutual interest. By 1950 Biju hadpractically become the principal financial prop ofthe party and Mahatab always encouraged himto remain as an industrialist without cherishing anypolitical ambition.

The spirit of adventure that had onceprompted Biju Patnaik in his young days to moveto the cockpit of an airplane from the less thrillingjob of a ground engineer again goaded him tograsp the wheel of the administration in his ownhands and steer the state through a ratheruncharted course to a bright future of his dreams.Biju employed all his organizing ability for winningthe mid- term poll in 1961. In the hustings Biju

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raised high hopes in the minds of the people withpromises that under his rule milk and honey wouldflow in the lanes and by- lanes of the poor state.He used to urge the people to draw inspirationfrom his life- how he became a man of croreswithin a few years from a very humble beginning.In June 1961, Biju took over as the Chief Minister.Once at the helm of affairs, Biju tried to see thathis ideas and dreams of making Odisha a modernindustrial state came true. His greatest obsessionwas the sickening backwardness of Odisha.Naturally, he concentrated all his efforts in findingways and means to make up the Lee way. Withhis great pull with the Prime Minister Nehru, Bijunot only accelerated the process of developmentbut was able to locate a number of prestigiousprojects in the state, e.g.- the Paradip Port,Sunabedha MIG factory, Talcher Thermal PowerPlant, Balimela Hydel Project, the ExpressHighway and many more. The concept ofPanchayat industries to boost the rural economywas given a trial. A system of competition amongstthe Panchayts and Panchayat Samities wasintroduced. The winning Panchayats were to getsmall scale industries as a prize up to the value ofRs. 1 lakh each and winning Panchayat Samitieswere to get medium scale industries up to the valueof Rs. 1 crore each. By this method in geometricalprogression, the entire state would have beenindustrialized within a span of 20/25 years. Thescheme not only received the approval and activesupport of the Planning Commission and theGovernment of India but also inspired severalState Governments to take up similar projects.

These apart, Biju Patnaik was fortunatein having a Governor who was equally energetic.He was Ayodhya Nath Khosla, an eminentengineer who gave all help and encouragementto Biju Patnaik to give shape to his ideas. Khoslahimself drafted a ten-year plan for the integrateddevelopment of the river basins of Odisha. The

plan covering the period from 1963-1973 wascalled the Odisha’s decade of destiny. This was amodern industrialist’s approach to a conservativebureaucracy. Truly, the state had embarked on anew adventure under his stewardship. Everythingwas going tempo. But it was rather strange that aman like him, who had the noble ideas of buildingthe state’s economy round the peasantry, wasoblivious of a very fundamental aspect in his zealfor setting up a major port at Paradeep and toconnect it by an Express Highway to facilitate ironore movement by road. Both the costly projectsproved to be a heavy burden on the stateExchequer and resulted in a lop- sided growth ofthe state since not much resources were left forthe development of agriculture and irrigation, twomost vital sectors for a poor state like Odisha,where 80% of people lived on agriculture.Moreover, by taking up the Paradeep PortProject he threw on the public exchequer a liabilityof about Rs. 16 crores - the amount spent on theproject. The project became sort of a whiteelephant and Biju Patnaik had to face hostilecriticism from his political opponents. The portwas eventually taken over by the Government ofIndia but the dispute over the reimbursement ofthe cost persisted and continued to be a bone ofcontention between the Centre and the State.

Due to implementation of the Kamraj Planhe had to resign from his office at the instance ofthe Congress High Command for organizationalwork of the party on a full-time basis. Thus, BijuPatnaik’s resignation ended the hope of politicalstability. Even with an absolute majority behindit, the Congress could not provide political stabilityin the State and the Party had three ChiefMinisters in six years. After Biju Patnaik’sresignation Biren Mitra formed the next CongressGovernment on October 2, 1963. Biju Patnaikwas made the chairperson of the State PlanningBoard to look after planning and development ofthe State, the post that he held until January 29,

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1965. Soon after Mitra assumed office, theMahatab group triggered the student movementand took active role in ousting the Biju-BirenMinistry. The Assembly was stormed by thestudents’ mob and it was hurriedly adjourned. TheChief Minister was in tenterhooks. With in a fewdays, disturbances broke out all over the statecausing students’ agitation of a serious nature.Hurt emotionally and prompted by a desire toget rid of the administrative burden, Biren Mitratook unilateral decision to resign withoutconsulting the Party. To revive the Congressimage, the succession to Biren Mitra fell on to thehead of Sadasiva Tripathy. Biju Patnaik regardedas the “Super Chief Minister” and still his swaywas over the organisation. He had the final say inthe matter and his choice fell on Sadasiva Tripathy,Revenue, Forest, and Excise Minister in Mitra’sCabinet. After the resignation of Sadasiv Tripathy’sMinistry in 1965, Mahatab walked out of theCongress with his seven trusted lieutenants andformed Jana Congress with Pabitra MohanPradhan as the President to “oust Congress frompower.” The General Election in 1967 came offat the peak of anti-Congress wave in the country.The Congress for the first time suffered setbackin so many States in its electoral history. Amongthe prominent Congress leaders who suffereddefeat were Biju Patnaik, Nilamani Routray, andSatya Priya Mohanty along with many otherministers. The Jana Congress’s electoraladjustment with the Swatntra Party was in a strongbid ‘to end the misrule of corrupt Congressleaders’ paid good dividends. A coalition Ministrytherefore, was formed taking the members of theSwatantra and the Jana Congress Parties.Rajendra Narayan Singh Deo of the Swatantraparty became the Chief Minister and PabitraMohan Pradhan of the Jana Congress becamethe Deputy Chief Minister.

New alignments started taking shapeduring presidential election of August 1969 in

the Odisha Congress which was also dividedover the presidential poll. The followers of BijuPatnaik voted for the official Congresscandidate Sanjiva Reddy while others exercisedtheir “conscience vote” in favour of V.V.Giriwho was regarded as Indira Gandhi’s man. Bythat time, Biju Patnaik fell from the grace ofthe Prime Minister because of his pro-SanjivaReddy stand. As Biju Patnaik was defeated inthe Assembly poll, he sought election to theRajya Sabha. The Party recommended hisname to the Central Parliamentary Board whichrejected it and selected Narayan Patra as theParty’s candidate though his name was not sentby the P.C.C. The followers of Patnaik revoltedand set up T.Sanganna as their candidate. Theoutcome was a setback for the Congress(R)as both the official nominees’ Patra and rebelcandidate Sanganna were defeated. Ultimately,the High Command accused Patnaik andsuspended him on May 24, 1970 along with afew of his followers. Biju Patnaik, therefore,left Congress and formed his state-based party“Utkal Congress”. After the birth of the UtkalCongress, a new spate of developments tookplace in Odisha. Mahtab was waiting for sucha situation. With Patnaik in it, he dislikedCongress, when he was out, and he tried hisbest to enter into it.Biju Patnaik in the Opposition Bench

Biju Patnaik’s contribution to India’sdemocracy was the role he played tenaciouslyand repeatedly in Odisha and at national level forforming opposition unity through times of factionalpolitics. The Indira wave virtually had no impactin the General Election of 1971 to the OdishaLegislative Assembly. The Swatantra Partysecured 36 seats and the Utkal Congress of BijuPatnaik 32 seats, which after September bye-election became 36 seats. The Jharkhand, theP.S.P., and the C.P.I. secured four seats each.The CPI (M) begged two and Independentssecured four seats.

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Soon after the election the attempt for aCoalition Government of Congress and UtkalCongress could not succeed. A coalitiongovernment was formed and Biswanath Dasassumed the charge of office on 3rd April 1971inOdisha. The government headed by BiswanathDas depended on the Swatantra Party, theJharakhand Party and the Utkal Congress.Despite his stay outside the formal powerstructure, Biju Patnaik was the unquestionedmaster of his Utkal Congress Party and coalitiongovernment.

The Coalition Ministry came to the edgeof fall down because of disagreement among thepartners. By hook or by crook, the coalitionscontinued till June 1972. In the same time, theUtkal Congress Legislative Party under theleadership of Biju Patnaik, (this had 34 members)decided to rejoin the Congress Party. But theCongress Party admitted only 28 members of theUtkal Congress Party and the rest six membersincluding Biju Patnaik remained in the oppositionas Independent members. The Congress party,thereafter, formed Ministry with Smt. NandiniSatpathy as Chief Minister.

Thus, the Utkal Congress was againrevived in November 1972 and an 18 memberlegislative party including the” left out” seven BijuPatnaik as the leader. In February 1973, acombined front styled as the Pragati LegislativeParty with the members of the Swatantra Party,six members of the erstwhile Utkal Congress Partyand the members of the Independent Congressgroup was formed. The Pragati Party elected BijuPatnaik as its leader and he became as the leaderof the opposition. On 1st March 1973 when theAssembly was in session, the political situationtook a sudden turn. 25 members of the CongressParty including two Cabinet Ministers defectedfrom the Congress and joined the PragatiLegislative Party. The Satpathy Ministry resigned

immediately after that and the State came underPresident’s rule on 3rd March 1973.

Elections to the 147-member stateAssembly were held on February 22 and February24, 1974 in a favourable climate for the Congress.The Congress fought the election in alliance withthe CPI. Therefore the fight was virtually restrictedto the Congress and the Pragati combine of UtkalCongress, Swatantra Party and Samjukta SocialistParty. The emergence of the Pragati Party before1974 elections was a significant development inthe direction of bipolarization of the party systemin the State. Biju Patnaik’s idea of an all-Indiaalternative was in fact realized in 1974 with theformation of Bharatiya Lok Dal.

In the years 1974 and 1975 India faceda political turmoil of enormous proportions.Around this time the issue of corruption becamethe biggest issue. Jaya Prakash Narayan’santicorruption movement was gradually takingunshakable roots by which time the AllahabadHigh Court judgment came. Raj Narayan’selection petition in the Allahabad High Court madeall the difference. Raj Narayan challenged Indira’svictory on the ground that she committed electoralmalpractice. Mrs. Indira Gandhi’s electoral victorywas soon giving place to Raj Narayan’s courtvictory. With the judgment in hand the oppositiongave her two options; either to quite or facecountrywide agitation. Indira Gandhi was not soweak leader to abdicate power by suchprovocations. A disillusioned Indira Gandhibecame captive of circumstances of her ownmaking. There was no alternative, except turningto the Constitution and Proclaiming NationalEmergency.

On June, 25th 1975, PresidentFakiruddin Ali Ahmed signed a proclamationdeclaring a state of emergency in India on theground of internal disturbances. Again on July 1st,

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1975, the President signed another ordinanceamending the maintenance of Internal Security Act(MISA) whereby the government could detainanyone it likes without assigning the grounds. Thetenure of Lok Sabha was extended for one year.Many opposition leaders were put behind bars.At this Biju Patnaik and other leaders went toJagjivan Ram with a suggestion that if he couldcome out from the Congress immediately theywould support him. Biju Patnaik andChandrasekhar spoke for the Janata Party.Nandini Satapathy and K.R.Ganesh spoke forCPI only after they had finally checked up withtheir erstwhile comrades. Jagajivan Ram calledhis supporters to reach Delhi. When many arrivedRam said that he was leaving the Congress andhe was going to announce this in the CongressElection Committee. On January 29th Ram finallydecided to come out of the Party.

But on January 17, 1977 Indira Gandhiannounced the dissolution of the Lok Sabha andholding fresh elections to the House in March1977. After Indira Gandhi declared the electiondates all the opposition parties met in Delhiinstantly. The Jana Sangha, Bharatiya Lok Dal,Congress (O), the Socialist Party, the Congressfor Democracy and Bharatiya Lok Dal mergedtogether and named as the Janata Party.

In Odisha, the Janata Party under theleadership of Biju Patnaik fought the elections inalliance with Congress for Democracy (C.F.D.)and the CPI (M). It bagged 16 (Janata 14, C.F.D.1, CPI (M) 1) of the 21 parliamentary seats.Congress Party got only 4. In the Elections to theOdisha Legislative Assembly the Janata Party ledby Biju Patnaik swept the polls while theCongress was completely routed. Out of 147seats the Janata Party got 110 seats, Congress26, CPI and CPI (M) one each and Independentsnine. This was for the first time in the history ofOdisha that a party under Biju won the election.

The most remarkable feature of poll outcome wasre-emergence of Biju Patnaik as the undisputedleader of Odisha. With a landslide victory of 110seats a Ministry was formed with NilamaniRoutray, a close lieutenant of Biju Patnaik, as theChief Minister on 26 June, 1977.

Biju Patnaik's Last Chance to fulfill hisDreams

Following the election debacle of theCongress (I) in the Parliamentary elections ofNovember 1989 at the national level in generaland State level in particular. Janaki Ballav Patnaik,who frustrated the efforts of all his political rivalsto remove him from the seat, owned the moralresponsibility for the failure of the party in electionsand as such resigned from the position on 1stDecember, 1989. Mr. Hemananda Biswal, aformer critic, political rival of Janaki Ballav Patnaikand former Minister of Janaki Ballav Patnaik’sCabinet became the leader of the CongressLegislative Party and he took over as Odisha’sChief Minister on 5th December, 1989.

The Janata Dal led combine under theleadership of Biju Patnaik won a five-sixthmajority, cornering 130 of the 147 seats with theJanata Dal alone getting 123. The Congress (I)secured only 10 seats. Biju Patnaik had playedthe pivotal role in the formation of National FrontGovernment at the Centre and his contact withthe Prime Minister V.P.Singh developed his imagein Odisha. Biju Patnaik’s appeal to the people togive him a chance at the fag end of the politicalcarrier to build up Odisha of his dream had magicimpact on the people. Waving of loans of smallfarmers’ up to 10,000/- also attracted the mass.The Boffors deal of Rajiv Gandhi also had animpact on the people.

With a triumphant majority, Biju Patnaikreturned as the Chief Minister of Odisha after along gap of 27 years. His comeback wasacclaimed all over the State as the emergence of

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an era of industrialization. The people of Odishaalso nurtured a hope of getting something fromBiju Patnaik at the fag end of his life. Before theelection, Biju Patanaik was too in the asking of a‘last chance’ to serve the people. Biju Patnaikhad cherished a dream of establishing a SecondSteel Plant and empowering the women. Duringthe Chief Ministership of Biju Patnaik, the processof liberalization, privatization and globalisation,which was started by the Centre assistance, wasstreamlined. More and more private investorswere attracted to invest in Odisha’s market. Hetried his best to establish a second steel plant inOdisha and selected Daitari as the proper placefor the Second Steel Plant.

When Biju became the Union SteelMinister during 1977, he tried to set up a shorebased steel plant at Paradeep. But things couldn’tmove ahead because Moraraji Desai’sgovernment fell half way through its tenure. Biju’splan suffered a setback. When Biju Patnaik againcame to power in 1990 he was overconvincedthat Odisha needs another Steel Plant and it wastime to give solid shape to the concept, whichhad failed to take off. Biju always wanted to setup the plant in Paradeep because of theexportability of the product. A South KoreanCompany Pohang Iron and Steel co. (POSCO)was asked to study the feasibility of a port-basedSteel Plant. The team of experts, however,showed unwillingness to Paradeep. Paradeep hadanother disadvantages attached to it. TheDredging Corporation of India in a report hadsaid that to develop Paradeep for a Steel Plantwould take 15 years of time and an amount of250 crores would be needed as developmentcosts. Finally, Biju gave in and Daitari was selectedto be the right place for the second steel plant.The next step he took was a joint sector companycalled Kalinga Steel Limited to replace JanakiBallav Patnaik’s Nilanchal Ispat Nigam. The

Kalinga Steel became the joint venture of theGovernment run concern IPICOL and JindalStrips Limited was to set up the plant at Daitari.Before Jindals came the South Korean firmPOSCO, had tried but backed out on the questionof the place where the plant should come up.Although the investment of Jindals for a mega-project was totally beyond their corporatecapability, they invested 70 crores in anotherproject and finally they withdrew. After the oustof the Jindals, Biju Patnaik invited the Tata’s tocome and set-up the Steel Plant. To entrap theTatas Biju offered many facilities. As all his effortshad gone into frivolous, he arrived in London inNovember 1991 to fructify his dreams. Hepersuaded Swaraj Paul, Chairman of theCAPARO group. Biju saw high hopes in SwarajPaul. But his dream of 3 million tonne steel projectreceived a severe jolt when the Germanyunification came about in 1990. Without the helpof congress Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao,it was difficult to get foreign financial assistancedirectly for the Kalinga Steel Project.

When he invited the South Korean Steelmaking firm POHANG Company to become amajor partner along with the Jindal Strips, theCentral Steel Minister accused him of violatingthe protocol by approaching a foreign companyat his own. In the meanwhile the Narasimha Raogovernment at centre implemented the new Indianeconomic policy. These were governed by theprinciples of liberalization, privatization. Freedomto the entrepreneurs to establish any industry ortrade or business venture was encouraged. Statecontrol, licenses, and permits system were alsodiscouraged. For Biju Patnaik this was a goldenopportunity. Again he successfully motivatedSwaraj Paul to shoulder the responsibility of theKalinga Steel. On 10th May, 1992 the BhoomiPuja was held at Jakhapura near Daitari with thepresence of Swaraj Paul, Biju Patnaik and the

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British High Commissioner in India. Meanwhilethe Union Cabinet cleared the establishment of agiant steel plant in Odisha. Swaraj Paul was readywith the investment of money. But somethinghappened in the midst, when Swraj Paul wantedto clarify that he was only an investor and not theprincipal promoter of the project as envisaged.He also said that the CAPARO group is also anequity investor and not leader as far as debt equitywas concerned. Unless debt equity could be doneat 3 is to 1 there was no way of proceeding withthe Project. When this information reached Biju’ssecretariat every thing seemed to be unsettling forhim. Finally, Swaraj Paul washed his hands off inthe project. Three years of protractednegotiations, years of wavering and gallons ofhopes all were dashed to the ground. A dream ofBiju Patnaik became unfulfilled. However duringthe second term of Chief Ministership from March5, 1990 to March 15, 1995 Panchayati Rajmovement gained momentum under his dynamicleadership. He took a revolutionary step to reserve33 per cent of seats for women in the three-tierof the Panchayati Raj system. As a mark of hisprofound love for Panchayati Raj institution thepeople of Odisha observe his Birth Day (March5) as Panchayati Raj Divas.

The “son of the soil” breathed his last on17th April 1997 at the age of eighty-one. Thewhole country was stunned and messagescondoling his death and eulogizing his contributionsstarted pouring in from far and near.

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Balabhadra Ghadei, Biju Patnaik the Son of the Soil,Orissa Review, February-March, 2008, pp, 43-37.

Bhaskar Parichha, “Biju Patnaik: A PoliticalBiography,” Hara-Anand Publications, New Delhi,1995.

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Dasarathi Bhuyan, Janaki Ballav; A Poli t icalBiography, Indian Publishers’ Distributors, New Delhi,2006.

Dasarathi Bhuyan, “Naveen Patnaik: the Best ChiefMinister,” Indian Publishers, Distribution, New Delhi,2006.

F.G. Bailey, “Politics and Social Change – Odisha in1959,” University of California Press, Berkley, 1963.

J.K. Mohapatra, Factional Politics in India, ChughPublication, Allahabad, 1985

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Manoranjan Mahanty, and L.N.Mishra, Odisha:“Politics of Political Stagnation,” State Politics inIndia, (Ed) Iqbal Narain, Meenakhi Prakashan, NewDelhi, 1976.

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S.N.Mishra, “Party Politics and Electoral Choice inan Indian State,” Ajanta, New Delhi, 1989.

Sridhar Charan Sahu, Development Administration inOdisha: Maintaining Biju Patnaik’s Contribution andAchievements, Orissa Review, February-March, 2008,pp, 3-27.

Sunit Ghosh, “Odisha in Turmoil,” Book LandInternational, Bhubaneswar, 1979

Tapan Ray, “A Negative Vote in Odisha: A saving gracefor Congress (I)”, Frontline, April 7, 1995.

Tusar Kanta Patnaik, Biju Industrial Venture, OrissaReview, February-March, 2008, pp, 28-42.

Dr. Dasarathi Bhuyan, Head, Department of PoliticalScience, Bellaguntha Science College, Bellaguntha,Ganjam-761119. Email : dasarathi_bhuyan@yahoo.co.in.