[Watch] Dharmendra Fires ‘Kaurava Sena’ Salvo At BJD, Hails Bhartruhari Mahatab As ‘Bhishma Pitamah’

New Delhi: Taking an indirect dig at ruling BJD, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan created a flutter by drawing a parallel between the state of affairs in Odisha and celebrated epic Mahabharata during a book release event in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Without naming any individual or party, he referred to those calling the shots in Odisha as ‘Kaurava Sena’ and said he would endure with humility the nonsensical cries from this group, which have not read Yajnaseni: The Story of Draupadi (an award-winning novel written by Pratibha Ray), and may not have an understanding of women sensibility.

“Those who have gone through the book are well aware of what it is all about and it must have left them teary eyed,” he said while speaking at the launching ceremony ‘Kalpanara Bastabata,’ a collection of essays by noted writer Bijay Nayak, who is currently additional press secretary to President Droupadi Murmu. Ray was also present at the event.

While continuing with his oblique caustic remarks at the state of women in Odisha, Dharmendra said people must be seeing many Bhishma Pitamah, Kripacharya and Dronacharya through this telecast and can draw a comparison with the dilemma which they faced at the ‘Kuru Sabha’ during disrobing of Draupadi. “I call Bhartruhari Mahtab grandsire Bhishma. He has brought glory to Odisha by becoming MP six times. Just like Bhishma Pitamah, he will draw curtains on his political career only when he wants to. But making statements like he will not be able to win even a councillor post was uncalled for,” he said, referring to a recent statement made by a BJD leader against him.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi likes him, Dharmendra quickly added.

Notably, Bhartruhari has raised eyebrows after he wrote an editorial recently against alleged police excesses on BJP youth activists during a rally in Bhubaneswar. His perceptible closeness to the BJP central leadership has also given rise to speculation about his future political plans.

While Bhartruhari, at the meeting, said Dharmendra was discreet in his speech when he spoke about reign of fear prevailing in Odisha to protect the former from any kind of trouble, Leader of Opposition Jayanarayan Mishra on Wednesday clarified the 6-time MP had faced opposition from his own party when PM Modi wanted him to be the deputy speaker.

“The Kaurava-like ego of the ruling BJD will prove to be its nemesis. Bhartruhari is a talented person. His performance in Lok Sabha is praiseworthy,” Jayanarayan added.

Responding to BJP’s praise for the BJD leader, Congress MLA Md Moquim on Wednesday said: “As an MLA of Cuttack, I will say that he is an intellectual person. He has been elected from Cuttack six times. However, people have the habit of dragging down those who prosper.”

Notably, this is not the first time that BJP has used Mahabharata analogy to attack BJD. It had compared the party with Dhritarashtra while blaming it for shielding criminals in Mamita Meher murder case.