Odisha makes U-turn, says sports award to continue in name of Biju Patnaik

Odisha BJP government faces backlash over proposed renaming of sports awards honoring Biju Patnaik, later clarifies no decision made.

The Mohan Charan Majhi-led Bharatiya Janata Party government in Odisha has made a U-turn on renaming State’s premier sports awards being conferred after legendary the late Biju Patnaik and clarified that no decision has been taken on change in nomenclature.

The Sports and Youth Services Department in a July 19 notification replaced the existing Biju Patnaik Awards for Sports, Bravery, and State Awards with Odisha State Sports Award. The revised guidelines for the awards now include eight categories, compared to the previous five.

The decision had elicited sharp reactions from the Biju Janata Dal, which termed the notification narrow and vengeful politics by the BJP. Party spokesperson Arun Kumar Sahoo said “the BJP should refrain from engaging in this type of politics. It is unclear what the BJP government hopes to gain by dropping the name of Biju Patnaik, who is a revered figure in Odisha and respected by all political parties. Biju Patnaik worked alongside the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee and made significant contributions to the Indian freedom struggle.”

In a hurriedly called press briefing on Sunday, Mr. Majhi said no decision had been taken to rechristen the State Sports Awards instituted after the name of Biju Babu whose contribution would be remembered in Odisha and country. The BJP government always honoured legendary personalities and freedom fighters of Odisha.

The Odisha Chief Minister subsequently went to the residence of former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. He invited him to participate in the all-party meeting convened a day before the first Assembly session of the new government.

After the clarification, the BJD took more aggressive stance, alleging that the one-month BJP government had shown its intolerance and immaturity by first deciding to drop the name of legendary Biju Patnaik from sports award and again retaining the name.

“The BJP government is trying to change Odisha history by erasing the fame of Biju Patnaik. This is unfortunate for Odia race. The decision to drop name of Biju Patnaik has hurt 4.5 crore people of the State,” said Lekhashree Samantsinghar, BJD spokesperson.