3 min readBhubaneswarMar 30, 2026 02:50 PM IST
Condemning the ‘outrageous comments’ made by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey about his father Biju Patnaik, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president and former Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday said the BJP MP needs some “mental health doctors’ attention”.
“I was surprised to find the outrageous things that MP Dubey said about Biju Babu. I don’t think he knows that former PM Jawaharlal Nehru put up an office next to his office in Delhi while Biju Babu was still the CM of Orissa to plan tactics and fight the Chinese,” Patnaik told reporters outside the state Assembly.
Patnaik, who is the younger son of the legendary leader, said though he was very young at that time, he still remembers how furious his father was about the Chinese attack and what he did to repel it.
Dubey, who represents the Godda parliamentary constituency in Jharkhand, recently alleged that Biju Patnaik was a ‘link’ between the US government, the CIA, and Nehru during the 1962 Chinese conflict, which has triggered a row and drawn widespread condemnation.
Speaking to reporters in New Delhi on March 27, Dubey stated that former PM Jawaharlal Nehru fought the 1962 war against China with American money and in collaboration with CIA agents, and named Biju Patnaik, who was then the CM of Odisha, as a “link” between the US government, the CIA, and Nehru.
Dubey also alleged that Biju Patnaik, father of former CM and BJD chief Naveen Patnaik, was involved in helping the CIA operate U-2 planes — high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft — at the Charbatia air base in Odisha. He also alleged that the air base housed the US military in India from 1963 to 1979. Biju Patnaik, in his first stint, was the chief minister of Odisha from June 1961 to October 1963.
Opposing the “disrespectful remarks”, BJD leader in the Rajya Sabha Sasmit Patra resigned from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and IT headed by Dubey.
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The regional party also burnt an effigy of Dubey in Bhubaneswar over his comments and demanded his unconditional apology. The party also condemned the silence of BJP leaders on the matter.
“Biju Babu was the pride of India and the epitome of Odia self-esteem. Any disrespectful comment against him is an insult to Odisha and Odias. Dubey needs to apologise immediately,” said BJD youth wing president Chinmaya Sahoo.
The party also raised the issue in the Rajya Sabha, as BJD MPs staged a walkout in protest.
