Nagbushan Bhavan, an auditorium-cum-office complex, dedicated to the memory of veteran revolutionary and late CPI(ML) leader Comrade Nagbushan Patnaik, was inaugurated on 27 November, 2001. Former Lok Sabha Speaker Rabi Ray and senior CPI(M) leader and former MP from Orissa Shivaji Patnaik, CPI State Secretary Divakar Naik, Forward Bloc State Secretary Sharad Mansingh, Samajwadi Party leader Vaishnab Parida, noted intellectuals Prof. Vibhuti Patnaik and Prof. Lakshminarayan Rai Singh, Anadhi Behara, leader of the Chilka Fishermen’s Association, Phanibushan Patnaik, son of Nagbhushan Patnaik and leader of Gunupur Motor Workers Union were among the guests who graced the inaugural function. A statue of Comrade Nagbhushan Patnaik donated by Gunupur Motor Workers Union was also unveiled by senior polit bureau member of CPI(ML) Ram Naresh Ram on the occasion.
Inaugurating the Bhavan, the CPI(ML) General Secretary Comrade Dipankar Bhattacharya recalled the pledge of Comrade Vinod Mishra at the time of Comrade Nagbhushan’s funeral meeting in 1998 that a memorial would be constructed in honour of the departed leader, declared the fulfillment of the pledge and dedicated the Bhavan for the cause of revolution. The construction of the Bhavan, located near the Bhuvaneshwar Railway Station, was completed within three years despite all odds. The auditorium has a seating capacity of 400.
Describing Comrade Nagbhushan as an extraordinary revolutionary with an iron will, Comrade Dipankar recalled Comrade VM’s words that Nagbhushan was the nearest real life character he had seen resembling the revolutionary hero in the Russian novel How the Steel was Tempered. He said the leader’s legacy of dauntless struggles against enemy repression amidst severe physical ailments would continue to inspire newer generations of revolutionaries. Having been one of the key leaders of the heroic Srikakulam armed struggle, he always remained a revolutionary mass leader and even till his last days he was actively leading mass struggles in southern Orissa.
Comrade Dipankar said that Nagbhushan personified a broad left unity in the country. He always stressed the need for the Left to forge a broad unity against the communal fascist forces and the same he reiterated in his last write-up, a message he delivered at the all-India party congress of CPI at Chennai.
Comrade Nagbhushan also symbolized a broad democratic front, Comrade Dipankar recalled. Leading the Indian People’s Front, his was a consistent voice of democracy and he could bring together a wide range of democratic forces and personalities to fight shoulder to shoulder. The fascists were coming up with draconian ordinances like POTO. Even comrades from UP who were to attend the inauguration and the Party School couldn’t make it because they have been put behind the bars by Rajnath Singh. If the fascists were to come up with weapons like POTO to suppress people’s movements, Nagbhushans, revolutionaries with iron will, were our answers to that, Comrade Dipankar said. The best homage we could pay to Comrade Nagbhushan was by forging a broad unity of communists, socialists, civil liberty activists and other democratic forces to fight draconian measures like POTO, he added.
Concurring with Orissa State Secretary Comrade Khitish Biswal, Comrade Dipankar said that the Bhavan would serve as a center of activity for all streams of progressive activity in Bhuvaneshwar.
Describing Comrade Nagbhushan as his close friend, Rabi Ray said Nagbhushan maintained a warm friendship even with those with whom he differed ideologically. He was universally respected for his sterling revolutionary qualities.
The same afternoon there was a convention against POTO which was addressed by several civil liberties activists and prominent intellectuals of Bhuvaneshwar.