Recalling his childhood memories of the 1962 Indochina War, Naveen Patnaik said that as a 13-year-old, he remembered his father (Biju Patnaik) being furious over the Chinese attack. File | Photo credit: ANI
Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president Naveen Patnaik on Monday (March 30, 2026) said BJP MP Nishikant Dubey must consult a doctor for making “inflammatory” remarks against freedom fighter and former Odisha Chief Minister Biju Patnaik.
In his March 27 statement, Mr. Dubey alleged that Biju Patnaik was a “liaison” between former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and America’s foreign intelligence agency, the CIA, during the war against China in the 1960s.
“I am surprised to find the inflammatory things Mr. Nishikant Dubey said about Biju Babu. I don’t think Jawaharlal Nehru gave an office next to him in Delhi while Biju Babu was still Chief Minister of Odisha to plan tactics and fight against the Chinese,” Mr. Patnaik told reporters outside the State Assembly in Bhubaneswar.
Recalling his childhood memories of the 1962 Indochina war, Mr Patnaik said that as a 13-year-old he remembered his father being furious over the Chinese attack. Condemning Mr. Dubey’s remarks, the BJD chief added, “I think the BJP MP needs the attention of a psychiatrist for saying these outrageous things.”
The BJD also staged a strike in the Rajya Sabha in protest. BJD floor leader Sasmit Patra rose to speak soon after the meeting convened for the day. “BJD is not disrupting the House. But today we want to register our serious protest against MP Nishikant Dubey’s disparaging, false and fabricated statements against Biju Patnaik. He called Biju Patnaik a CIA agent. This is the extent to which the ruling party has sunk. This is shameful,” he said.
Based on his remarks, Mr. Dubey posted on X that he was trying to expose the “misdeeds of the Congress” and not Biju Patnaik. “When Congress did injustice to Biju Babu, it was Jan Sangh and BJP who stood by him. Tell me what allegation I made against Biju Babu in my tweet? If anyone is hurt by what I wrote, I can only try to make him understand,” he wrote.
BJP leader Baijayant Panda tried to play down the controversy, calling Biju Patnaik “one of the greatest patriots of modern Bharat”. He added: “Insulting his patriotism is fantastic and patently ridiculous. Such attacks on him are undignified, uninformed and completely unacceptable.”
Published – 30 March 2026 21:25 IST
