Bhubaneswar: BJP MLA from Sambalpur Jayanarayan Mishra has once again stirred a debate over Odisha’s language and cultural identity, questioning the use of ‘Bande Utkala Janani’ as the state song and asserting that Sambalpuri has a larger presence in the state than the language commonly referred to as Odia.
Mishra said Sambalpuri should be regarded as the “real Odia language”, while the present form of Odia has, according to him, been influenced by Bengali. He also questioned the expression ‘Bande Utkal’, arguing that Utkal represents a particular region and does not encompass the whole of Odisha.
The Sambalpur MLA called for a new song representing all regions and languages of the state. He said areas such as undivided Sambalpur, Balangir, Kalahandi and Athmallik should find representation in it, stressing that his stand was not against any particular region or language but sought equal importance for Odisha’s diverse linguistic and regional identities.
Mishra had raised a similar objection in March 2025, saying the state song glorified the coastal Utkal region while leaving Kalinga and Koshala unrepresented. He had then argued that Odisha was formed in 1936 through the merger of Kalinga in the south, Koshala in the west and Utkala in the coastal region.
He had said he had no objection to Odisha as a state but suggested replacing ‘Bande Utkala Janani’ with ‘Bande Odisha Janani’.
‘Bande Utkala Janani’ was adopted as Odisha’s state song by the Assembly in 1994 during the Biju Patnaik government. The song gained renewed prominence in May 2020 when then Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik appealed to Odias worldwide to sing it in solidarity with frontline workers battling the COVID-19 pandemic.
