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'Non-Oriya' Patnaik comes under
attack from partymen

Biju Janata Dal legislators have labelled English savvy Naveen Patnaik a 'non-Oriya' chief minister, due to his lack of knowledge of Oriya and his bias towards non-Oriya bureaucrats in the state administration.

Patnaik was criticised for his inability to learn Oriya, maintaining a non-Oriya lifestyle and his keenness to promote non-Oriya bureaucrats.

Patnaik faced angry party legislators and leaders on Wednesday, at the party office, during a meeting of district presidents and office-bearers from coastal districts.

The most vocal was legislator from Ersama and former minister Damodar Rout, who termed Patnaik a non-Oriya chief minister of Orissa. Others echoed Rout's view.

Rout said, ''The state is being ruled by non-Oriya people, beginning from the chief minister to the advocate general and director general of police. One can imagine the state of affairs in Orissa due to this.''

A senior party leader told rediff.com that Patnaik was not trying hard enough to learn Oriya, since he entered state politics over three years back. "Even after becoming chief minister in March this year, he has yet to pick up the language, which will hamper the party's prospects, after all a party leader should identify with the common people," he said.

Although Oriya is the official language of the state, since Patnaik took over, all work is being done in English. "Patnaik used to send all important and confidential notes in English," sources said.

Almost all Oriya typewriters were replaced by English ones. Former chief minister J B Patnaik of the Congress, a staunch advocate of Oriya, had ordered all work in the state should be done in Oriya. He had also replaced English typewriters with Oriya ones to popularise the language.

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