Janaki Ballabh Patnaik ; was the only Journalist Chief Minister of Odisha who was an Indian politician who had been Governor of Assam from 2009 to 2014. A leader of the Indian National Congress, he was Chief Minister of Odisha from 1980 to 1989 and again from 1995 to 1999, holding that post for the longest time on record before Naveen Patnaik.
Patnaik who was born on 3rd January, 1927 died on 21ar April 2015 at Tirupati. If we peep into the political history of Odisha we find Nandini Satpathy , was the only woman Chief Minister while J.B. Patnaik was the only journalist Chief Minister who ruled the State for 13 years in three terms. He was the most controversial Chief Minister who faced a number of scandals relating to women. Mr Patnaik , had done a lot for the media persons of Odisha as the Minister of State for Civil Aviation and Tourism as well as the Chief Minister of the State,While Patnaik was the Minister of State for Civil Aviation and Tourism, he had introduced a Fokker Friendship flight from Bhubaneswar to Delhi via Baneras and Khajuraho. Because of his immense love for media persons he had organised conducted tour of Bhubaneswar based journalists to Delhi by Fokker F27 Friendship flight, That was the first opportunity of Bhubaneswar based newsmen to avail flight to Delhi via Baneras and Khajuraho.
The media persons of Bhubaneswar were provided with accommodation in the luxurious Qutab Hotel of Indian Tourism Development Corporation which was a rare opportunity for most of news men of OIdisha. Finally Mr Patnaik hosted a grand party at the Ganga Jamuna suits of country’s number one hotel Ashoka. None of the politicians from Odisha have ever treated the scribes of Odisha in such a grand manner till today.
After becoming the Chief Minister Mr Patnaik took steps to promote newspapers as industry and provided att facilities to newspaper establishments for introducing advanced printing technology , With a view to boost the economy of the state through industries by utilising the the rich natural resources of Odisha, Mr Patnaik had announced to introduced 1,000 Industries in 1,000 days, for which he was called ” Hazari Patnaik: by his critics,
The only weakness of Mr Patnaik was for his close persons and he tried to give them protection at the cost of his good will. Though he was no way involved in the Chhabirani Gangrape and Murder case , his role became suspicious as he trued to protect the interests of some Congress leaders who were involved in the brutal rape and murder of Chhabirani, wife of a rutal reporter Naba Kishore Mohapatra of Biridi block in Jagatsinghpur district. It was a;;eged that Mr Patnaik had used his official power to safeguard the interests of the alleged rapista who were subsequently convicted by the apex court.
Similarly in the case of Anjana Mishra Gang Rape case, though he was no way concerned, he had toi burn his fingers by trying to help the then Asvocate General Indrajiy Ray against whom Anjana Mishra had made allegations . Instead of taking any risk on his image , Patnaik tried to protect the Advocate General Indrajit Ray for which he was badly criticised by the media and opposition parties.
I owe my gratitude to Mr Patnaik who was my guru in journalism as Under his guidance I had learned to start my journalistic careerrer as Campus Reporter in the Eastern Times of which he was the respected Editor.
He had tremendous interests for journalism and use to read a lot besides watching TV programmes. On a few occasions he invited me to discuss some of my writings or comments in TV about him and tried to correct in case there were any factual errors in my writings or deliberations. From beginning till the end he remained as a Guru for me despite our sweet and bitter relationship.
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Prasanta Patnaik