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BIJU PATNAIK
The birth anniversary of Biju Patnaik was celebrated (5 March). He is remembered as a freedom fighter, an Indian politician, an aviator and a businessman.
Brief Profile:
- Bijayananda Patnaik was born on 5 March 1916, he is popularly known as Biju Patnaik.
- He was an ace pilot and joined the Royal Indian Air Force in 1936.
- He was the two times Chief Minister of Odisha.
Role in Freedom Struggle:
- Biju Patnaik started his career as a freedom fighter in 1942. He joined the Quit
- India Movement under the guidance of Mahatma Gandhi to make India free.
- He became a prominent leader of Congress and was engaged in the Quit
- India Movement with Jay Prakash Narayan and Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia.
- In 1943, he underwent imprisonment for about two years for his participation in the Quit India Movement.
- He fearlessly undertook covert missions, ferrying freedom fighters to secret meetings with their supporters, and even airdropped leaflets in support of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army.
- He played a major role in World War II and the Kashmir War of 1948 as a pilot in the Indian Air Force.
Role in Kashmir Integration:
- Biju Patnaik had fearlessly flown a DC-3 transport aircraft to Srinagar on 27thOctober 1947, ferrying soldiers of the Sikh regiment after the tribal invasion from Pakistan in Kashmir.
Role in Indonesian Freedom Struggle:
- On the request of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Biju Patnaik flew to Java and brought Sultan Sjahrir out of Dutch controlled territory in Indonesia for a meeting inDelhi.
- For this act of bravery, he was given honorary citizenship in Indonesia and awarded the ‘Bhoomi Putra’, the highest Indonesian award, rarely granted to a foreigner.
- In 1996, the Biju Patnaik was awarded the highest Indonesian national award, the ‘BintangJasaUtma’.
SOURCE: PIB
