Biju Patnaik's daughter reveals his plans to topple the British Raj

Incredible though it may seem, the late Biju Patnaik had plans to print fake currency notes and circulate them across the Indian subcontinent as a means of bringing about the downfall of the British Raj. This was revealed by the legendary leader and former Odisha Chief Minister's daughter Gita Mehta in an article 'Mo Bapa (My Father)', published in 'Utkal Prasanga', the Odisha government mouthpiece.

The state government, which is headed by her younger brother Naveen Patnaik, is celebrating the birth centenary of Biju Patnaik, who had founded the UNESCO Kalinga Prize for Popularisation of Science.

Mehta, a prominent writer whose works include 'Karma Cola', 'A River Sutra', 'Snake and Ladder', 'Glimpses of Modern India', revealed several little known facts about her illustrious father.

"While in jail, my father was thinking of ways to oust the British from India. Then he decided to become owner of a textile mill, because these units required the same colour and chemicals as are used to make currency notes. My father was determined that within six months of his release from jail, he will print fake notes and circulate them in the sub-continent to ensure the fall of British Rule," Mehta said.

Gita said her parents, during their stay in Delhi, were busy giving asylum to freedom fighters and trying to evade arrest by the British police.

"A foreign freedom fighter who was aware of this had named our house 'Absconders' Paradise'," she said, adding that while her father was arrested by British police, the Viceroy's wife had honoured the same Biju Patnaik.

"My father was honoured by British rulers for his act of releasing some British families who were imprisoned by Japanese during the Second World War," Mehta recalled.

As to the reason for Biju Patnaik's arrest, Mehta said, "The reason was that my father had some pistols. Soon after British police handcuffed my father, he came to my mother and on the pretext of bidding goodbye to her, hinted that she should throw away the pistols. After my father was taken away, my mother put the pistols inside a pillow cover and took them in a Sunbeam-Talbot car and threw them at a secluded place." 

Mehta said that while her father was in prison, her mother Gyan Patnaik would visit the jail with her brother and herself to meet him and pass on secret messages.

"This continued for four years and my mother managed to give secret letters to my father inside the jail by putting them inside the shoes of my younger brother," she said.

However, jails could not confine Biju Patnaik, she said, adding, "My father managed to escape from jail by jumping the boundary wall but fractured his hand in the process. To get cured, my father had to hold his hand up for months. My mother was afraid that police would catch my father as he was tall (and thus easily recognisable), and would extradite him," Mehta said.

She said her mother was not different from other north Indian girls of the time.

"She was not aware of modernity. My father after marriage made her learn ballroom dancing and how to play bridge. My father also taught her how to ride a bicycle. He also trained her to run our 4-seater Sunbeam-Talbot," Mehta said.