By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, October 17, 2021: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who turned 76 on Saturday, did not celebrate his birthday to express solidarity with the people hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. For the past three years, Naveen has not been celebrating his birthday.

Naveen skipped his birthday celebrations in 2020 because of Covid-19 and in 2019 owing to Cyclone Fani that wreaked havoc in the coastal Odisha including the pilgrim city of Puri.

“I am indebted to the people of Odisha for their love, wishes and blessings. For one and half years, people have been going through a hard time because of the coronavirus. It would be the biggest birthday gift for me if people, instead of coming Naveen Niwas, go and help the family members who have lost their near and dear ones due to Covid and engage themselves in blood donation programmes,” he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Odisha Governor Prof Ganeshi Lal, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Union Minister of Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, chief ministers from Assam, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, and Kerala wished him on his birthday.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi

Greetings to Shri Naveen Patnaik Ji on his birthday. I pray that he is blessed with a long and healthy life in service of the people.
@Naveen_Odisha
6:51 AM • Oct 16, 2021•Twitter for iPhone

Odisha Congress chief Niranjan Patnaik, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and State Assembly Speaker Dr Surjya Narayan Patro also wished the CM on his 76th birthday.

Naveen thanked one and all for extending warm wishes on his birthday.

In an interesting bid to commemorate the Naveen’s birthday, pastry chef Rakesh Kumar Sahu from Begunia of Khordha created a spectacular chocolate sculpture weighing around 72 kg.

The 32-year-old Sahu who runs an institute of baking and pastry art at Tanka Pani Road, took 15 days to complete the sculpture with the help of six of his students.

An avid sports enthusiast, Mr Sahu said he came up with the idea to create the sculpture as a tribute to Patnaik for his steadfast support for Indian Hockey over the last several years, which resulted in a spectacular performance by the Men’s and Women’s National Teams in the recently concluded Tokyo Olympic Games 2020.

“I was celebrating the bronze medal win just like the rest of the country when it struck me that I should do something special for our Chief Minister who stood by the National Hockey Teams like a rock during its lowest phase,” Mr Sahu said.

The veteran politician has been in power without interruption for 21 years with a record five successive terms as the chief of the state.

The ruling Biju Janata Dal has been organising blood-donation programmes under the Jiban Bindu programme since 2015 and has been mobilising its workers to participate in this noble cause.