A day after his own party MP Baishnab Parida targeted him over the prevailing poor status of the Odia language in the State, Rajya Sabha member and Odisha Jana Morcha (OJM) chief Pyarimohan Mohapatra on Saturday took a dig at Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for not learning the State’s language for the last 16 years of his rule.
“I had brought two books in 2000, one for Naveen Patnaik and another for my daughter-in-law to learn Odia easily. But both of them didn’t learn Odia,” rued Mohapatra.
Maintaining that Patnaik has not shown any interest in learning Odia, he questioned, “How can one rule a State without knowing its languageIJ”
He said had Patnaik showed the slightest interest, he would have learnt the language by now.