Nandini Satpathy: Unknown Facts About Iron Lady Of Odisha On Her 93rd Birth Anniv

Bhubaneswar: The eldest daughter of writer Kalindi Charan Panigrahi and niece of Odisha’s firebrand communist leader Bhagabati Charan Panigrahi, Nandini Satpathy as a woman in politics and literature finds few parallels in contemporary times.

On the occasion of her 93rd birth anniversary, former MP and her son Tathagat Satpathy, several civil society organisations and city denizens paid rich tributes to Odisha’s first and only woman CM by garlanding her statue near Raj Bhavan in Bhubaneswar on Sunday.

Recently, biography of the former chief minister – ‘Nandini Satpathy: The Iron Lady of Odisha’- authored by journalist-cum-writer Pallavi Rebbapragada, was also released at Bakul Library in the city.

In the book, Pallavi outlined the circumstances that led to Nandini joining the Rajya Sabha at the young age of 31, and her pivotal role in liberation of Bangladesh during which as Minister for Information and Broadcasting in Indira Gandhi’s cabinet, she led the information war with Pakistan through the Liberation Radio of Bangladesh. She also spoke about her relationship with Indira Gandhi and how she was dismissed as chief minister for opposing Emergency.

On her 93rd Birth Anniversary, Odisha Bytes brings to you some unknown facts about the ‘Iron Lady of Odisha’.

1>> Nandini was born on June 9, 1931, and grew up in Pithapur, Cuttack district.

2>> She studied and completed her Masters in Odia literature from the erstwhile Ravenshaw College.

3>> In 1949, as an 18-year-old Nandini Panigrahi, she wrote a story titled “Chimnira Daka” and half a century later, it was translated by Sachidananda Mohanty as “The Call of the Chimney” and published in a book called Early Women’s Writings in Orissa, 1898-1950: A Lost Tradition (2004).

4>> In 1951, she was imprisoned for pulling down the Union Jack from atop the edifice of Ravenshaw College. In jail, she met activist Devendra Satpathy whom she later married.

5>> Nandini entered the Rajya Sabha in 1962 at the age of 31. She was elected to the upper house from Congress twice.

6>> After Indira Gandhi became Prime Minister in 1966, she appointed Nandini as the Deputy Minister of Information and Broadcasting and later as Minister.

7>> As the I&B minister in Indira Gandhi’s first government, she facilitated the working of the Free Bangla Radio that played a key role in the information war.

8>> In Delhi circles, she is best remembered as ‘Indira Gandhi’s friend’.

9>> Nandini returned to Odisha in 1972, because of vacancies created by Biju Patnaik and others departing from the Congress party. She was then entrusted with the charge of Congress-led government.

10>> She was the first woman Chief Minister of Odisha and the second woman to become Chief Minister in independent India. She served in the post from June 1972 to December 1976.

11>> She was elected as the leader of Odisha Congress Legislature Party twice.

12>> When she became Chief Minister of Orissa in 1972, none other than Jnanpith awardee and poet par excellence, Sitakant Mahapatra, was appointed her secretary.

13>> She implemented radical land reforms and tore down the tobacco trade mafia.

14>> She has translated Taslima Nasreen’s novel ‘Lajja’ into Odia. It was a major literary work, which earned his critical acclaim.

15>> She was conferred with Sahitya Bharati Samman Award in 1998 for this novel.

16>> She also authored the book ‘Uttara Purusha’. Her literary works have been translated and published into other languages. For her contribution to Odia literature, she had received the Sahitya Bharati Samman Award in 1998.

17>> In one of her stories, “Wounded Pride” in the collection titled One Step Towards the Sun; Short Stories by Women from Orissa edited by Valerie Henitiuk and Supriya Kar and published in 2010, she explored the sexual dilemmas of a housewife trapped in the hollows of a dull marriage.

18>> She hobnobbed with the likes of Raj Kapoor, Nargis, and Meena Kumari as India produced films around socialist films and warmed up to Russia.

19>> She led Indian Film Delegations thrice – Moscow & Tashkent – and also accompanied the then Prime Minister as a member of India’s delegation to Commemorative Session of United Nations in New York.

20>> She was Chairmanship of Children’s Film Society of India twice.