Earlier, JB Patnaik’s funeral procession began at 11 AM from his residence and then proceeded to Congress Bhavan, where he was given floral tribute and full honour. The cortege then reached Vidhan Sabha. A guard of honour was given to him inside the Vidhan Sabha premises.
Over 50 thousand people were present at Swarg Dwar to bid farewell to JB. The cops had a tough time to control the situation. People chanted ‘Janaki Ballabh Amar Rahe’ and ‘JB Amar Rahe’. The Guard of Honour was given to JB Patnaik at 8:08 PM. The last rites were conducted in the presence of family members, relatives, fans and followers of JB Patnaik at around 8:35 PM.
His only son Pruthvi Ballabh P
Ministers Debi Prasad Mishra, Pradip Maharathy, MLA Maheswar Mohanty, Puri Collector Arabinda Agarwal, Puri SP, Leader of Opposition Narasingh Mishra, former Odisha CM Giridhar Gomang, other Congress leaders Prasad Harichandan, Niranjan Patnaik, Jayadev Jena, Suresh Routray and many others were present at the funeral site.
Earlier, Congress leader and former J&K CM Ghulam Nabi Azad arrived in Bhubaneswar to pay his last respect to the departed soul. He carried a message of Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi. He was also present during the funeral. Congress’ Odisha In-Charge VK Hariprasad and his deputy Subhankar Sarkar were also present at the funeral.
Born on 3rd January, 1927 at Rameswar village in Khordha district, JB Patnaik controlled the Odisha Politics as well as the Congress Party for long. He was the Chief Minister of Odisha from 1980 till 1989 and then from 1995 till 1999. He held the post of Assam Governor from 2009 till 2014. He was an Union Minister in Indira Gandhi’s Cabinet. President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed JB as a great leader. Modi even described him as a pillar of Odisha politics.