Naveen Patnaik slams Nishikant Dubey for ‘outrageous’ remarks against Biju Patnaik

Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president Naveen Patnaik on Monday (March 30, 2026) said BJP MP Nishikant Dubey needs to consult a doctor for making “outrageous” remarks against freedom fighter and former Odisha Chief Minister Biju Patnaik.

Mr. Dubey, in a statement on March 27, had claimed that Biju Patnaik was the “link” between former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and U.S. foreign intelligence service CIA during the war against China in the 1960s.

“I am surprised to find the outrageous things that Mr. Nishikant Dubey said about Biju Babu. I do not think that 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,” Mr. Patnaik told reporters outside the State Assembly in Bhubaneswar.

Recalling his childhood memories from the 1962 Indo-China war, Mr. Patnaik said that as a 13-year-old he remembered his father being furious about the Chinese attack. Condemning Mr. Dubey’s remarks, the BJD chief added, “I think the BJP MP needs some mental doctor’s attention for saying these outrageous things.”

The BJD also staged a walkout in the Rajya Sabha in protest. BJD floor leader Sasmit Patra rose to speak soon after the session convened for the day. “The BJD does not disturb the House. But today we want to place on record our serious protest against the disparaging, false and concocted statements made by MP Nishikant Dubey against Biju Patnaik. He called Biju Patnaik a CIA agent. This is the extent to which the ruling party has fallen. This is shameful,” he said.

Backpedalling on his remarks, Mr. Dubey posted on X that he had been seeking to expose the “misdeeds of the Congress” and not Biju Patnaik. “When the Congress did injustice to Biju Babu, it was the Jan Sangh and the BJP which stood by him. Tell me, which allegation did I level against Biju Babu in my tweet? If anyone is hurt by what I have written, then I can only try to make them understand,” he wrote.

Attempting to contain the controversy, BJP leader Baijayant Panda weighed in, calling Biju Patnaik “one of the greatest patriots of modern Bharat”. He added, “Casting aspersions on his patriotism is fantastical and patently ludicrous. Such attacks on him are unworthy, uninformed, and totally unacceptable.”