BJD president Naveen Patnaik on Monday said BJP MP Nishikant Dubey “needs a mental doctor”, after the loose-cannon parliamentarian claimed that former Odisha chief minister and Naveen’s father Biju Patnaik had links with the CIA.
BJD MPs staged a walkout from the Rajya Sabha during Zero Hour in protest against Dubey’s remark. BJD member Sasmit Patra has resigned from the parliamentary standing committee on communications and IT, headed by Dubey.
On Saturday, Dubey told reporters that Biju was the “link” between then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, the American government and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the US foreign intelligence service.
“America had sent its soldiers and CIA agents to Tibet. The US knew that China would take over Tibet at some point. The Dalai Lama and his brother were in touch with the US government. Nehru fought the China war with American funds and with CIA agents. Biju Patnaik, the chief minister of Odisha at that time, was the link between the CIA, the US government and Nehru,” Dubey told reporters.
He claimed that the Charbatia airport in Odisha, which Biju was involved in setting up, was made the base for U-2 planes. The American military operated from this base from 1963 to 1979.
Naveen recalled how his father had fought the Chinese, recalling what he had witnessed when he was 13. “Nishikant Dubey said something about Biju Babu. I don’t think he knows that former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had put an office next to his in Delhi while Biju Babu was still the chief minister of Odisha to plan tactics and fight the Chinese. I was very young at that time, about 13 years old, but I remember how furious Biju Babu was with the Chinese attack and how much he did to repel it. I think Nishikant Dubey needs some mental doctor’s attention for saying these outrageous things,” the five-time chief minister said.
Sasmit Patra, the BJD floor leader in the Upper House, said: “The BJD does not disturb the House. But today, we want to place on record our serious protest against the disparaging, false and concocted statement made by Dubey against Biju Patnaik. He called Biju Patnaik a CIA agent. This is the level to which the ruling party has fallen. It is utterly shameful. The BJD strongly opposes this. In protest, we are walking out.”