The Daredevil Biju

Growing up, I had a famous namesake in a personality hailing from Odisha, a state which then used to be called Orissa. He was Biju Patnaik, the former Chief Minister. I naturally took an interest in the man and learned how fascinating a personality he is.
Biju Patnaik (1916 - 1997) is largely confined to a regional identity by the general media because he was such a towering figure in Odisha politics which is unfortunate. Very few people know that he was much more than a local satrap. He was, or ought to be recognized as, a national hero. In fact, he is a hero of two countries. Biju was Chief Minister of Orissa from 1961 to 63 and again from 1990 to 95. Now his son Naveen Patnaik is ruling the state from 2000 onwards, ie., 20 years and counting.

Passionate about flying from a young age, Biju Patnaik dropped out of college and trained as a pilot. During World War II, he joined the Royal Indian Air Force and got busy delivering subversive literature to Indian troops in Burma and flying Indian freedom fighters of the Congress, for which he was imprisoned by the British and thrown into Kalapani, Andaman and Nicobar islands. Biju flew supplies to China and the Soviet Union. He flew supply sorties to Srinagar during the Kashmir conflict of 1947. Impressed with him, Jawaharlal Nehru sent him to Indonesia to help with the freedom struggle there. The country was ruled by the Dutch who restricted the movement of the leader Sutan Sjahrir. Biju Patnaik flew to Java and clandestinely smuggled Sjahrir out via Singapore in a Dakota aircraft to enable him to attend the first inter-Asia conference organized by Nehru in Delhi.  Nehru described Biju as 'India's buccaneer' for his daredevilry.  The act of bravery made Indonesia confer him honorary citizenship. He was awarded 'Bhoomi Putra' award. During Indonesia's 50th Independence Day in 1996, Biju Patnaik was awarded the country's highest national award, the 'Bintang Jasa Utama'. He was great friends with the first Indonesian President Sukarno who ruled from 1945 to 67. In fact, it was Biju who named Sukarno's daughter as Megawati. Incidentally, Megawati Sukarnoputri later went on to become President of her nation as well. 



Starting from his election in 1946 to the Cuttack legislative assembly seat in 1946, Biju was a commanding presence in Odisha politics. He became the Congress President and Chief Minister (at age 45) before falling out with Indira Gandhi and coming to be influenced by Jayaprakash Narayan. He was arrested during the Emergency. After release, he began to play a role in national politics too. He was Union Minister in the Janata Party Ministry. Many years later he became part of Janata Dal.

                 

Biju Patnaik was a visionary who set up industries like Kalinga Tubes, Kalinga Airlines, Kalinga Iron Works, Kalinga Refractories and an Oriya language daily called Kalinga. He instituted the international Kalinga Prize for Science and Technology and the Kalinga Cup in football. Biju was married to  Gyan Patnaik and had two sons and a daughter. The elder son Prem is a Delhi-based industrialist and the younger son Naveen is the founder of Biju Janata Dal party and longtime Chief Minister of Odisha. A writer who entered politics only after his father's passing away, Naveen is the author of the books A Desert Kingdom - The People of Bikaner, A Second Paradise: Indian Courtly Life 1590 - 1947 and The Garden of Life - An Introduction to the Healing Plants of India. Biju's daughter Gita Mehta is a frontline English writer with books like Raj, Karma Cola, Snakes & Ladders and A River Sutra. She is married to Sonny Mehta, New York-based chief of Alfred Knopf publishing.  Early this year she was in the news for declining the Union government's Padma Shri award saying its timing could cause embarrassment to her brother as it is an election year.