Opinion

Odisha has a glorious history of her indomitable spirit of fighting against injustice, foreign rule.

Odisha has the unique distinction of initiating resistance against the British empire in 1817 which is forty years before the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857.

The tradition of valour in veins of Odia which contributed significantly towards India winning independence.

Bhabani Charan Patnaik was one of the freedom fighter from Odisha-the land of indomitable spirit and courage.

Bhabani Charan Patnaik was also one of the youngest freedom fighter from Odisha ; apart from the legendary Baji Rout.

Bhabani Charan Patnaik had joined the freedom struggle while he was a school going boy at the age of 10 in Nimapada, Odisha.

In 2017 I was doing research for two books on the unsung freedom fighters and the unknown aspects of freedom struggle in Odisha which started almost forty years before the Sepoy Mutiny.

Time was very short and the task was Herculean in nature.

However, my reverence for my native place and inquisitiveness became the motivating forces to complete the task.

I searched many historical documents in libraries, archives; went through the files in district record rooms in various districts in Odisha etc in order to prepare one book in Odia and another in English; which would be enriched with academic contents, historical photos and aesthetic look.

I came across the name of freedom fighter Bhabani Charan Patnaik from Nimapada who enjoys legendry status.

I reached out to Bhabani Charan Patnaik over phone with much trepidation.

To my utter surprise, I received the sweetest reply to my telephonic call.

Bhabani Charan Patnaik was above 95, yet his voice was full of the indomitable spirit and courage.

He was full of praise when he was apprised about the two forthcoming books.

His voice was full of humbleness when I unfolded the idea of writing about his participation freedom struggle since school days.

Subsequently, Bhabani Charan Patnaik left school education midway by getting influenced by the clarion call by Mahatma Gandhi in 1942.

Bhabani Charan Patnaik’s dedication, hardwork and dedication made him a close associate of freedom fighters and stalwarts like Dr Harekrushna Mahatab, Biju Patniak, Nabakrushna Choudhry, Neelamani Routray etc.

When I asked him over phone about the most memorable incident during th efredom struggle days; Bhabani Charan Patnaik narrated eloquently the firing by British police on the peaceful protestors led by Bhabani Charan Patnaik and his colleagues like Lokanatha Senapati and Padma Charan Samantsinhar in Nimapada during freedom struggle.

His voice got choked with emotion when he remembered the name of Utsav Mallik who was martyred in the firing by the British police.

Bhabani Charan Patnaik was put behind bars in Puri jail as he led the protest against the British.

Though Bhabani Charan Patnaik was jailed, that could not dampen his dedication to Gandhian principles and values.

When Bhabani Charan Patnaik evoked the name of Mahatma Gandhi, his voice tone became more baritone.

Without a pause, Bhabani Charan Patnaik went on describing with minute details about the numerous visits of Mahatma Gnadhi to Odisha starting with 1921.

According to Bhabani Charan Patnaik, it was the famine in Udaar in Puri which was highlighted by Utkalmani Gopabandhu Dash in his latters to Mahatma Gandhi brought Gandhi to Odisha.

Bhabani Charan Patnaik made a candid confession that it was Gandhiji’s simplicity, concerns for ordinary human-beings, and unflinching dedication to Non-violence bowled him completely.

He was completely hypnotized by Mahatma’s personality.

Upon being asked about the relevance of Gandhi in contemporary world, Bhabani Charan Patnaik paused for a moment and took a deep breath.

A sense of disappointment loomed large over his voice.

Bhabani Charan Patnaik said by neglecting Gandhian philosophy India’s progress is not inclusive and broad-based.

Gandhian philosophy has become increasingly relevant in recent times and there must be attempts to connect the younger generation with the Gandhian ideology.

The long conversation led to a personal bonding, although over phone.

Bhabani Charan Patnaik’s eagerness to see my two books , which I could not.
However, Bhabani Charan Patnaik kept me motivated with his insightful reflections on many contemporary problems ailing the country.

My two books, namely ‘Valour in Veins’ in English and ‘ Dhamanee re Shourya’ in Odia have the unique distinction of featuring few living freedom fighters like Dayanidhi Nayak and Jeetendra Pradhan from Panimora village in Bargarh district and Bhanai Charan Patnaik from Nimapada.

I feel blessed as I had the privilege of interacting with these ‘foot-soldiers of Mahtma Gandhi’ and honour of featuring them in my two books.

The author is a policy analyst and can be reached by prusethsujit@gmail.com and +91-9868766705

Mahatma Gandhi is very dear to every Indian, a true visionary who has influenced generations around the world.

One would be curious to know about his relevancein the current pandemic situation.

The world has seen very few men of his stature and wisdom for which he is loved and worshipped as Mahatma.

He knew the people, their strength and weakness, having travelled every length and breadth of the country.

His solutions came out of strict experimentations and personal applications.

He had lived the life of a sage during very turbulent times of history which saw epidemics, starvation, racism, two world wars, several rebellions and upheavals etc.

He studied every situation deeply and looked for sustainable solutions to the problems of humanity.

Early in his life at Johannesburg, Gandhiji with the help of three followers treated the patients of pneumonic plague exposing him to life risk and experimented withearth treatment.

He kept vigil and nursed the patientsthrough the terrible nights when the designated nurse was frightened to provide any treatment.

He was a man having firm belief in God and such unshakable faith gave him great mental strength to nurse the critically ill patients.

A true Vaishnava, he would feel the pain of others and help those in misery, but never let self conceit enter his mind.

He would often nurse the ailing, dispensed medicine, dressed wounds by visiting a clinic in South Africa.

To take care of the wounded people, he had raised Ambulance Corps during Boer War and later, during Zulu rebellion.

Volunteerism and self help was very close to his heart.

Gandhiji believed in total health. He advised to have little dependence on medicine.

He advocated hydrotherapy, earth treatment, fasting, dietetics, massages, baths andreliance on simple diet without the use of spices and condiments though he was not averse to modern medicine.

Exposure to clean and fresh air are necessary for the treatment of body and soul.

From his days in South Africa, he learnt the benefit from the practice of personal hygiene and preventive treatment.

He would often advise to control both palate and passion.

To rid the villagers from skin diseases and many ailments he would raisearmy of volunteers to take up sanitation work in the villages for removing dirt and filth from the roads, wells, ponds and public places. His selfless volunteers provided medical reliefs to the people.

Any disease according to him is due to negligence or indulgence.

Practice of medicine should not be for profit making; rather it should aim at reducing the pain and sufferings of masses.

Gandhiji preached Gram Swaraj and according to him India’s soul lives in the villages.

He perfected the idea of making village as the basic unit of social organization;self sufficient as far as the vital requirements are concerned.

The village should be able to manage the basic goods including the medical requirements.

At the time of current global shut down, we come across several situations where the countries are unable to meet their food and medical requirements due to the intricate globalization and interdependence where outsourcing is the way of business.

Gandhiji’s dream of self reliance was closely related to the problem of migrant labour that we witness currently.

He believed about the economic salvation of the country through Gram Swaraj.

Economic reconstruction of the country could take place through rural industrialization, rural development, small scale village and cottage industries.

A self sustaining village economy having livelihood opportunity with adequate focus on literacy, health and moral values would enable the independent community to deal with the issues itself and is capable of protecting against any surge in the surroundings.

The rural areas could produce much needed food, clothing, agricultural products, and handicrafts through small scale enterprises and provide employment to its people.

Covid -19 has created waves of panic and fear affecting almost all countries.

The world population is suffering from the bouts of anxiety, depression, health disorder, scare and fear of sickness.

The people are losing mental and emotional stability of different degrees.

Financial losses and job loss have compounded the problems in unsparing manner.

Each country is evolving and coping with challenges to secure the life and wellbeing of its population, some of those being unique to their culture, tradition and democracy.

The epidemic has exposed various problems of the modern and highly intricate globalised economy.

In a sense the disease is a great contribution of the way the current business in the world is carried on.

The people have moved from place of origin of disease and spread it everywhere through air travel.

However, now the crisis has deepened affecting rich and poor alike.

The effects are much worse than any war this world has seen and not sure how long the same would last.

Much against the desire of Gandhiji, developments have taken place leading to concentration of industry and commerce in few urban areas of the country where we see the spikes of disease spreading in hugely dense population.

In 1901, only 2.58 crore people were living in urban areas of the country which increased to 37.71 croresas per 2011 census.

There were nine metropolitan cities in the country having 18.9 percent of the urban population in the year 1971.

The number of metropolitan cities increased to 50 in the year 2011 having 42.3 percent of the urban population.

The increase in urban population was significantly contributed by rural- urban migration over the years with migration contributing 22.4% to the urban growth for the period from1991 to 2001.

Our country is finding it difficult to cope up with the challenges when a large number of people are returning back to their villages in view of the Covid- 19 situation.

The melt down in our economy has affected everyone and the government is trying its best to reach out to the weavers, toymakers, farmers, labourers, pastoralists, daily wage earners, artists, fishermen, barbers, Dalits, Tribalsand the marginalized sections of society, who need the succor on priority.

At the current juncture, as the disease spreads wider and deeper, it would be prudent to look at what Gandhiji would have done to deal with the crisis by seeking selfless community support, raising forces of young men and men to undertake various responsibilities with regard to awareness and confidence building, teaching and ensuring personal as well as community health & hygiene, self discipline, awareness, volunteerismetc.

With no disease cure in sight for now, the ardent followers of Gandhiji would even like to suggest non- allopathic treatments for the patients.

The current model of urbanization and globalization which needs huge number of migrant labours exposes several weaknesses.

In this context, the idea of Gram Swaraj look everrelevant, a lesson which may be kept in view if we are looking for sustainable solutions to the emerging problems of human race.

* The author works as the Principal Secretary, Energy Department, Government of Odisha.

He was in charge of Disaster Management Department for Odisha state previously and had received global appreciation for management of Very Severe Cyclonic Storm “FANI’ during May, 2019.

The views expressed are in his personal capacity.

Surendra ……Surendra…the return of the valiant fighter :

Mid-August 1857…The atmosphere in Sambalpur town on the bank of mighty Mahanadi in Odisha was boisterous yet tense.

The people had a great time few days back in celebrating Nuakhai – the pre-harvest festival.

In addition, the Dasaharaa was round the corner.

But, people in Sambalpur were anxious, worried yet something unknown had made them happy with trepidation.

The sky was getting reddish with rays of the set-down Sun.
All of a sudden there was a thundering yell from nowhere.. Surendra aayelaa na re.. ( Surendra has arrived).

Those who listened to the voice almost got stand-still. They looked at each other and here and there with a sense of disbelieve and awe.

Then all of them witnessed the most dramatic moment of their lives. A tall, tan-skinned, well-built, bare-chest man with an armlet with religious significance in his right fore-arm descended from a grey coloured horse.

After getting down, he offered a mudiaa [traditional way of bowing to anyone as a mark of deep respect and gratitude]by touching his forehead to the soil with his two hands enjoined above his head.

People were watching with gasping breath yet not able to see his face clearly as lustrous hair covered his face.

But a gasp of fresh air from Mahanadi flowing nearby lifted the hair from his face and reddish light of Sun made visible his tanned face with a long moustache.

There was huge uproar with people screamed Surendra …Surendra …..In response to the rousing sound from the assembled people, the tall man raised his Khandaa ( sword) and said with a baritone voice…Jai Maa Samlei… Juhaar…Mui Surendra Sai..

It was roar of the lion.

Once again people screamed Jai Maa Samlei…Surendra Sai ki jai. It was Veer Surendra Sai, the valiant fighter who raised his voice and put up a valiant armed fight against the British and claimed his right over the throne of Sambalpur.

He was captured and put behind bar in Hazaribagh jail in 1840.

In a miraculous turn of event in 1857 Surendra and his followers were set free by the mutineers of 1857 and Sai retuned to Sambalpur with his brother Uddanta Sai after being incarcerated for 17 years in Hazaribagh jail.

Once he reached Sabalpur , his clarion call for Ulgullan [struggle for self-rule] made him a savior of the common people.

Valour in veins

Born in 1809 in Khindaa village near Sambalpur, Surendra Sai revolted against the British at the tender age of eighteen in 1827.

He led the armed struggle against the British as they anointed Mohan Kumari as the ruler of Sambalpur.

He fought for the dignity of his native land, her people and against the tyrannical British rule.

His heroic struggle was certainly unique and praiseworthy as it was one of the earliest armed struggles towards the freedom of the country.

Almost 3 decades before the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, he comes across as the torch bearer of the freedom struggle in the valley of Mahanadi in Eastern India as he organized the armed uprising against the Britsih in 1827.

He had received the wholehearted support of many Zamindaar [Landlords and rulers], Gountiaas [village headman] and may tribal community like the Binjhaal and others.

The most notable contributions have been by the Zamindaar of Ghess village.

The Debar settlement which empowered the British to collect tax five times more helped him in obtaining the support from the oppressed common residents of Sambalpur.

The armed attack with guerilla warfare technique had made him almost invincible for the British.

Sai had literally cut off the connectivity to Raipur, Ranchi and Katak by reigning in the control of Singhoda pass, Jharghati and Birghati etc.

The way he ambushed the British convoy at Jujumora near Sambalpur and killed Dr Moore who was on his way to Sambalpur to treat the wounded British soldiers highlights his strategic precision in armed attack.

Subsequently, the killing of Capt Wood who attacked Veer Suendra Sai in Kudopali near Sambalpur also shows his acumen in warfare with primitive arms and ammunitions in comparison to the British.

Fought British empire as a lone lion till 1862:

The unique significance of Surendra Sai’s valiant fight was his indomitable courage to carry out the armed struggle till 1862 where as the struggle started with the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 got extinguished within a short span.

It is pertinent to quote a letter written on 23 January 1865 by the Secretary to Chief Commissioner to Secretary, Foreign Departments, Government of India which underlines the significance of Veer Surendra Sai’s indomitable struggle.

The letter says, ‘ the Sambalpur district was perhaps the last district in India in which the embers of the disturbances of 1857 were finally stamped out.

Veer Surendra Sai not only led a relentless armed struggle against the British but sacrificed almost four decades of his life in jail which paved the way for the freedom of the country and restoration of her glory.

The indomitable courage, relentless struggle and dedication to safeguard the honour of motherland and dignity of her residents have been enduring legacy of Veer Surendra Sai.

The author is a public policy expert and can be reached at prusethsujit@gmail.com