President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, Governor Ganeshi Lal, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Congress veteran Rahul Gandhi greeted the people of Odisha on Utkal Divas on Friday.
Kovind said, “The land of the temples of Jagannath, Lingaraj, Konark and other rich heritages, Odisha gave the world a message of peace and love, shunning violence.”
Modi said Odia people are making landmark contributions to India’s progress and Odia culture is globally admired.
Union Ministers Amit Shah, Dharmendra Pradhan and Ashwini Vaishnaw also wished Odisha people on this day.
CM Patnaik paid his tributes to the great personalities who struggled for formation of a separate State of Odisha.
Rahul Gandhi said Odisha is a historic and glorious State. Its culture and traditions are very ancient and unique.
On April 1, 1936, after years of struggle by the forefathers, Odisha was declared a separate State on linguistic basis