WSN Service
NEW DELHI: Orissa’s Hindu Chief Minister, Biju Patnaik, has called for independence for Orissa to better develop the State and to uplift its population from the present abysmal poverty.
Orissa is one of the 22 Indian States. It is the latest to join at least four others. Punjab, Kashmir, Assan and Tamil Nadu where armed secessionist movements I have been continuing for many years.
Biji Pamaik who belongs to the Janata Dal headed by former Prime Minister V.P Singh has been speaking in varying tones in the course of his pre-election rallies: at a few places he called for outright secession for Orissa while at other places he wanted Orissa to be given fiscal autonomy.
Speaking at Chaturpur on (March 31, the Chief Minister called upon the people of Orissa to struggle for “fiscal autonomy” for the state .The people of Ganjam district, Mr Patnaik noted were the first to raise the demand for the formation of Orissa in 1936 and he asked them to give lead to the people by spearheading the campaign for fiscal autonomy. Inspite of vast and rich mineral wealth, Rivers and a long coastline, the Chief Minister said, the state remained poor because of the neglect, by Delhi. If the State could be freed from the bondage of the Reserve Bank of India and the “inefficient Central government”, it could become a prosperous state within a short time. But some leaders in Delhi were happy to see Orissa poor.
Earlier at Bhubneawar the Chief Minister said that India should have a federal structure giving fiscal autonomy to the states to free them from the clutches of the R.B.I. and inefficient Centre.
The Chief Minister’s observations evinced sharp reactions from the forces of centralism including Prime Minister Chander Shekhar. The Prime Minister asked Mr Patnaik to retract his statements” about secession. In a letter, Shekhar asked the Chief Minister to deny these statements. Mr Patnaik, however, took note of the Prime Minister’s letter and said he would send a suitable reply to him. The Chief Minister subsequently not only reiterated his stand in public but said that leaders belonging to “U.P.” were ruining the country.
Congress (I) President, Rajiv Gandhi, now touring Andhra Pradesh, expressed shock over the national front’s silence about Patnaik’s statements and said that it could be construed as national front’s policy.
Orissa Congress (I) chief, Giridhar Gomango, in a statement deplored the chief minister’s stance but added that his party would not make an election issue of the Chief Minister’s “statements. “Let the people judge”, he said.
Mr Patnaik’s call, observers feel, will strengthen the Sikh movement in Punjab and will give it greater international respectability than it has done.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 5, 1991
