Even though Agriculture Minister Damodar Rout has stuck to his guns on his controversial statement that Jayi Rajaguru was not a freedom fighter, Puri Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb on Wednesday rejected Rout’s claims.
The Gajapati, repeating his earlier statement, said, “Paika Bidroha began under the leadership of Jayi Rajaguru in 1804. It was carried forward by Buxi Jagabandhu and spread further. Therefore, the initial flag-bearer of the Paika Bidroha is Jayi Rajaguru and it started in 1804, not in 1817.”
In reaction, Rout said the Gajapati is the first servitor of lord Jagannath, and challenging his statement is not right. However, he put a few questions to the Gajapati.
“It would be good if the Gajapati conducts a research on why the Britishers, who had made Calcutta their capital in 1603, took 200 long years to come to Odisha; and if they came, how did they arriveIJ” asked Rout.
Earlier on November 24 at a function in Khordha, Rout had triggered a row by saying that the first war of independence against the British Empire took place in 1817 instead of 1804 and Buxi Jagabandhu, not Jayi Rajaguru, was the initial flag bearer of the rebellion. Rajaguru fought with British as the latter went back on their promise to give him two Parganas (estates), Rout had said.
