Bhubaneswar: Biju Patnaik had done it when alive, he is going to do it again years after his death - bring political leaders of various hues on one platform.
On January 27, former President Pranab Mukherjee will release here a pictorial biography on the former Odisha chief minister and sharing dais will be people of diverse political ideologies including former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani and CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury.
But the Biju Patnaik Centenary Celebration Committee, organiser of the event, has a statutory warning for those itching to make a comment on the day's line-up - no politics please.
Though it is difficult to keep politics off a gathering of politicians, chairman of the committee Bed Prakash Agarwala insists not to read much into Advani attending the event at a time when the BJP is making all efforts to dislodge the BJD from power in Odisha.
Agarwala told The Telegraph on Thursday: "No one should read politics in the invitation extended to Advani. Biju babu had a towering personality and he worked with Advani and other senior leaders at the national level in the past. Our objective is to bring together all the people and leaders who loved Biju Patnaik."
Advani and Biju were part of the Morarji Desai-led Janata Party government at the Centre in 1977. The other two leaders of that period Atal Bihari Vajpayee and George Fernandes had been keeping away from public life due to their ill health.
BJD leader Debi Mishra also echoed Agarwala. Mishra said that the event had nothing to do with politics.
"We have invited all the MPs and leaders, including Union petrolelum minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Union tribal welfare minister Jual Oram, to the event," he said.
The book, written by Sudarshan Ganeshan, contains rare photographs of Biju, including his cycle journey to Peshawar, his trip to the state secretariat on a bicycle and his love for flying.
The committee has also invited family members of Indonesian leader Sukarno to attend the function. A daredevil pilot Biju had played a significant role in the Indonesian freedom struggle and was awarded the highest civilian award by the southeast Asian country. He had an excellent rapport with Sukarno and his family members.
The party's intent to celebrate the event in a big way became evident with the BJD deploying a galaxy of its leaders - Debi Prasad Mishra, culture minister Ashok Chandra Panda, MP Tathagata Satpathy, Sanjay Das Burma, Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, Pranab Prakash Das and Arun Sahu - to set the stage for the show.
With Assembly elections scheduled for early next year, the event appears to be an attempt to remind the people of the Biju legacy.
