Disrespect to Biju Patnaik will cause Bangladesh-like situation in Odisha, says BJD's Santrupt Misra; BJP retorts 

The disrespect being shown to former Odisha Chief Minister Biju Patnaik will give rise to a situation akin to Bangladesh, said Leader of Opposition Naveen Patnaik’s political secretary Santrupt Misra on Friday. 

“Efforts are underway to wipe out several things associated with former Odisha Chief Minister Biju Patnaik which is unfortunate. Disrespect to those who sacrificed their lives for the nation as well as the state will plunge us into a Bangladesh-like situation,” said Misra. 

“All of you have seen how the statue of Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, who made a lot of sacrifices for his country as Mahatma Gandhi did for us, was pulled down. Similarly, legendary leader Biju Patnaik was instrumental in setting up several things including the Rourkela Steel Plant and the Paradip Port. No state in India tried to institute an award like the Kalinga Award. So, not to support this and not to work towards this is unfortunate. If we don’t learn to respect, it will shake the base of the democracy,” he added. 

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Responding to Misra’s statement, BJP’s Jagatsinghpur MLA Bibhu Prasad Tarai said that it is none else than BJD that has destroyed the personality of Biju Patnaik. 

“BJD has destroyed the image of Biju Patnaik. Naveen Patnaik himself has done this. Pandian is equally responsible for this. Have Madhu Babu (Madhusudan Das) and Gopabandhu Das been subjected to disrespect? Rather the BJD government had discontinued a scheme named Gopabandhu Gramin Yojana. They have played a major role in destroying what Biju Babu had done to uplift Odia Asmita,” said Tarai. 

“So, it is inappropriate to give a statement, linking to Bangladesh,” he added.