There have been reports in media that the academic council of the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) has proposed to name the OUAT after former Chief Minister late Biju Patnaik. If there is an iota of truth in the reports, the decision by the so-called academic council is a reflection of their mental bankruptcy and sycophancy to the ruling establishment.
If we turn to the history of this great institution, we will find that it was the Radhakrishnan University Education Commission of 1949 which had emphasised the need for establishing agricultural universities in India. The university came into existence in 1960. Utkal Keshari Harekrushna Mahatab, the then Chief Minister of Odisha and Dr Radhanath Rath who was then the Minister of Agriculture under his Cabinet, made untiring efforts in getting the university established.
At the relevant time, Biju babu was a member of the Odisha legislative Assembly.
The intelligentsia of the State has been demanding that the OUAT should be named after Dr Harekrushna Mahtab. However, the proposal of the academic council to name the university after Biju Patnaik has hugely surprised the whole State. I have great respect for Biju Patnaik and his contribution for the State is equally laudable.
Dr Mahtab was one of the tallest leaders of Odisha and India who has contributed to Odisha culture, politics and other fields tremendously. As a dreamer he dreamt of a progressive and prosperous Odisha. He was also instrumental in bringing a sense of Odisha pride and claimed a rightful place in the history of modern Odisha. As I knew Biju Babu personally, if he was alive today, he would moot this idea of naming OUAT after Dr Harekrishan Mahtab only. Biju Babu would not have liked to undervalue and underestimate the name of such a great son of Odisha who is revered as Utkal Keshari.
The State Government has already named Biju Patnaik University of Technology and so many institutions in the profound memory of late Biju Patnaik. If the Government is so keen to memorize Biju Babu, it is high time it worked harder for fulfilling the unfulfilled dream of Biju Patnaik, rather than naming institutions after him.
I therefore request the academic counsel, the Governor, who is also the Chancellor of Universities and the Chief Minister to consider the name of Utkal Keshari Dr Harekrushna Mahtab while naming the OUAT. Be that as it may, I think it is my moral duty to keep the record straight and make it clear that undermining Dr Mahtab is nothing but insulting the great history of Odisha and history will never forgive the sycophants!
(The writer is a former Syndicate Member of the OUAT and the Utkal University)