President Pranab Mukherjee’s showering praises on former Chief Minister late Biju Patnaik during his visit here on Thursday has immensely pleased the State’s ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) ahead of the general elections.
And needless to point out that the Opposition Congress is feeling uneasy about the former party old horse Mukherjee lauding Patnaik so lavishly in public at a time when the Congress is perceptibly gaining lost ground to face the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the party named after the late leader, in the elections with an expectation to prevent the BJD from coming to power for a fourth consecutive term.
But the issue being a quite sensitive one, the State Congress cannot come out in the open with its reaction.
On the other hand, a senior BJD leader and Minister said in private talks, “The President’s public statement on Bijubabu has greatly helped us. His statement is significant in this election year.”
Referring to Biju Patnaik, President Mukherjee, while addressing the convocation of the Utkal University, said, “This young man could have lost his life, bringing an early end to the story of a political statesman of contemporary India. His name was Biju Patnaik.”
Mukherjee said this referring to former President Dr S Radhakrishnan’s convocation address in this university decades ago.
Dr Radhakrishnan had stated, “It is my hope that this seat of learning may produce men and women who will live, love, take risks, be prepared to suffer and create a civilised society”.
Mukherjee said that this quote of Dr Radhakrishnan reminded him “the story of a young man (Biju) who was fired by the idea of freedom struggle.
For him, this struggle had no territorial limits. In the prime of his youth, he risked his life by flying an aircraft into the territory of an imperial power.
He rescued two great Indonesian freedom fighters and brought them back to safety in India.”
The Congress people, who do not want to enter into any controversy, are of opinion that the President’s praising Biju Patnaik prior to elections is not beneficial for their party.