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Glorious History of Orissa |
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While
the freedom struggle took its full course in the British
administered Orissa, under the leadership of National
Congress, spontaneous popular movements became a distinctive
feature of the Garhjat areas where the people rose
both against feudal tyranny of the princely rulers
and their overlord, the British. The leaders of such
uprisings came from the ranks of the down trodden
and the oppressed, but they showed their revolutionary
determination in the most practical manner. The people’s
movements in the Orissa Garhjats were without a parallel
in the rest of the princely India, though sufficient
light has not yet been thrown on the subject.
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The anti-feudal and the anti-British uprisings became frequent
in the second and the third decade of the 20 th century
for economic and political reasons. There were five such
risings in Bamra, (Bamanda) three in Talcher, one in Mayurbhanj,
one in Dhenkanal, and one in Nilagiri, besides a dangerous
rising of the Kondha in Dashapalla during the period above
mentioned. It is with much brutality, that the respective
authorities could manage to restore order in their areas. |
In
course of time, popular democratic movement of the
type as had developed in British Orissa took shape
in the Garhjat areas. In 1931 the Orissa state’s
People’s Conference was organized at Cuttack
and by 1936-37 this organization proceeded to enquire
into the people’s grievances in the states.
The ruling chiefs vehemently opposed such moves and
in some of the states, they restored to repressive
measures in order to strike terror in the minds of
the people, so that they should not speak anything
against the establishment. These anti-people measures
in turn paved path for organized popular movements,
such as the non-violent Satyagraha of the Nilagiri
Prajamandal to secure civil liberty for the people,
resulting in large scale arrests of the Satyagrahis,
lathi charges and firings. In Dhenkanal, in September
1938, the movement took such serious turn that a gathering
of forty thousand people, agitating with demands,
had to be dispersed with severe police action.
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It was a people’s uprising all over the state,
but suppressed by repressive actions leading to several
deaths including the death of a brave young boy named
Baji Rout whose courage and sacrifice became almost a
legend in Orissa.The relentless action of the armed forces
forced thousands of people to escape from their homes
while countless houses were destroyed. The movement was
continued with a great determination to escape the tyranny
of an arbitrary regime, backed by an imperial power. The
help of the revolutionaries of Dhenkanal that came to
satyagrahis from outside and it became obvious that such
popular movements were destined for ultimate success.The
most heroic role in the Dhenkanal uprising was played
by Sri Baishnav Charan Patnaik, a born revolutionary coming
from the most common ranks of the oppressed subjects who
was subjected to untoled sufferings but fearlessly and
carelessly he carried on his radical revolution showing
rare courage against formidable forces. He carried the
revolution to its logical end and made the Dhenkanal struggle
an interesting episode in people’s mind.
The movement spread to Talcher where the feudal systems
like bethi or forced labour roused the suffering peasantry
into action. The authorities resorted to harsh methods
of torture, beating, imprisonment and looting of people’s
property, while the people were resorting to peaceful
Satyagraha of the Gandhian type. Shri Pabitra Mohan Pradhan,
a firm believer in Gandhian principles of non-violence
was in the forefront of this movement. Nearly thirty thousand
people fled from the ex-state to save their life and honour.
In other ex-states like Athagarh, Tigiria, Baramba (Badamba),
Narasinghapur and Nayagarh, the Prajamandals launched
civil resistance movements and offered Satyagraha to press
for the liberation of the people from antiquated feudal
systems. A remarkable feature of all these Prajamandal
movements was that side by side with their political aspects,
the people were moved to action for economic and agrarian
reasons. It was the peasantry everywhere which spearheaded
the movements.
The movement in the small ex-state of Ranpur was met with
so much of brutality from the authorities that an otherwise
peace loving people were forced into violent agitation
which culminated in the murder of the British Political
Agent, Major Bazelgette in January 1939. It was followed
by extreme police and military action and a virtual reign
of terror forcing thousands of people to escape for life.
The serious nature of the
Orissa State People’s agitation drew the attention of
the Indian leaders, and eminent persons like Rajendra Prasad,
C.F. Andrews, Agatha Harrison, N.G. Ranga and Hare Krushna
Mehtab set themselves to bring about a conciliation between
the ruling chiefs and their agitating people. Mahatma Gandhi
took up the matter himself. He advised the people to suspend
the Satyagraha and advised the authorities to find out ways
and means for a constitutional settlement.
In the meantime, since the
formation of the separate province of Orissa in 1936, the
political events in India were heading towards the final phase
of the freedom struggle. General elections were held in the
British Indian Provinces in 1937 to form Provincial Legislatures
in accordance with the provisions of the Government of India
Act, 1935. In Orissa, in the said election, the Congress won
36 seats out of 60, and in July 1937, the first Congress Minstry
was formed under the leadership of Biswanath Das with two
other ministers, Nityananda Kanungo and Bodhram Dube.
This ministry began its work
for the implementation of several pronounced policies of the
Indian National Congress. Constructive programmes were taken
up for the welfare of the common people in spite of obstacles
created by the British controlled bureaucracy and for lack
of adequate financial resources. Yet, the ministry worked
out plans for the uplift of the Harijans, for introduction
of basic education, for enforcement of prohibition, etc. But
the ministry proved short-lived because of external events.
The outbreak of the Second World War created in India a political
crisis of great magnitude. At the call of the Congress High
Command, all the Congress ministers tendered resignation in
November, 1939.
The political crisis deepened
rapidly. The Congress renewed its demand in July 1940 for
complete independence and launched individual Satyagraha campaign
soon thereafter. In Orissa, the campaign was carried on with
considerable enthusiasm. The Congress ex-Ministers, legislators
and several top-ranking leaders were arrested. Numerous other
Congressmen spread over the land to carry the hope of independence
far and wide. As the war progressed, national struggle in
India also developed to its logical height.
In the power vacuum after
the resignation of the Congress ministry, situations in Orissa
developed rather in a delicate manner with the Congress preparing
for a final onslaught against the British, while some of the
leaders trying to form a Government to serve and advance the
interest of Orissa. Out of the later mjove, a Coalition ministry
was formed in November, 1941 with the Maharaja Paralakhemundi
as Premier and Pandit Godavaris Mishra and Maulvi Abdus Sobhan
Khan as ministers. This ministry functioned for a little over
two and a half years. Its most noteworthy achievement was
the establishment of a university in Orissa, famous as the
Utkal University.
When the Quit India Movement
began in August 1942, as the final attempt of the National
Congress to end the British Raj, Orissa played its full part
in the revolution, with widespread popular risings in remote
rural areas. At many such places, the British administration
almost vanished for sometime. With almost all Congressmen
in prison, it was more or less like a leaderless revolution
by the people, carried on fearlessly as long as possible.
And, in this regard, Orissa earned the historic fame for the
massacre of Eram in the district of Baleshwar where the largest
number of people died in a single police action as compared
to any such action in whole of India. Eram also proved how
the revolution in Orissa was an affair of the poor and common
people in far-away villages who required no leadership to
rise, but possessed a spontaneous will to take part in revolution.
Another significant aspect
of the Quit India Movement in Orissa was the underground revolutionary
activities carried on by a group of determined patriots under
Surendra Nath Dwivedy which came to be known as the Orissa
Conspiracy. The organization was ultimately broken up and
the leaders were tried in a special court and sentenced to
various terms of imprisonment.
Events moved faster after
the Quit India revolution. With the end of the World War in
1945, the days of the British Indian Empire became numbered.
The Labour Government in Britain which replaced Winston Churchill’s
Government realized the hard realities of the Indian situation
and came to the conclusion that it was impossible to retain
India any longer. General elections were held to Indian Legslatures
in 1946 and in Orissa, the Congress Party won 47 seats out
of 60 and formed its ministry under the leadership of Harekrushna
Mahtab. The other ministers of the Mahtab Cabinet were Nabakrushna
Choudhury, Pandit Lingaraj Misra, Nityananda Kanungo and Radhakrushna
Biswasroy. The independence of India was already in sight.
Time called for ardous constructive works from the new Government.
Side by side the amalgamation of the Orissa states became
the most crucial issue of the hour.
Post-Independence
Era |
With
the coming of the independence in August 1947 the
issue of the merger of the states was taken up immediately
for which the grounds had long been prepared by the
Praja Mandal Movements. In spite of the determination
of the ruling chiefs not to give up their hereditary
rights and their attempts to counteract the people’s
demands, their time was running out with the emergence
of a new independent India. People everywhere became
restless and the omen of a mass upsurge loomed large
on the horizon.The leaders of Orissa and of India
could not have allowed the princely chiefs to continue
to rule as before. H. Mahtab, therefore, took the
initiative for the merger of the states without any
further delay. The unrest in the ex-state of Nilagiri
forced him for intervention and the ex-state was merged
with Orissa in November 1947.This alarmed the other
rules while it encouraged the people to stand up boldly
for their political emancipation. The developing crisis
made the central intervention imperative, and Sardar
Vallabhabhai Patel came to Orissa in December 1947. |
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His statesmanship and strength bore result
when all the princely states, except Mayurbhanj, signed the
agreement handing over the administration of their states
to the Government of India in perpetuity, who on their part
delegated the administrative power to the Government of Orissa
to work out the merger to the states. The princely states,
thus, except Mayurbhanj, were amalgamated with Orissa with
effect from 1 st January, 1948. Mayurbhanj, too, was merged
with Orissa a year later. It was, however, unfortunate that
under some extraordinary circumstances and political miscalculations
the two Oriya-speaking ex-states of Seraikela and Kharsawan
were placed under Bihar in spite of strong resentment from
the entire Oriya-speaking population.
With the merger of the states, the new Orissa became nearly
twice as big in size, and with the addition of 50 per cent
more people to its existing population, it became one of the
major territorial units of the Indian Union. With potential
economic resources in form of unlimited minerals, extensive
forests, fertile lands, many river valleys, and numerous waterways,
Orissa’s future appears brigher in the days to come.
The bravery and richness of
the Kalingas became legendary, and finds mention in all most
all religious scriptures, stories and history of incredible
India In this respects, Oriya history resembles more the history
of the nations of South East Asia, and may have been one of
the features of Oriya society. |
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