The Prajamandal movement was a massive mobilisation of peasants and Dalits for assertion of their rights against the local Zamindars and Kings in the colonial Orissa.
Different groups of people had different perceptions of the freedom struggle. The peoples’ struggle was directed against internal as well as external colonisation by the Zamindari system , local princes and the British. Freedom for the Dalit people was to liberate them from the exploitation by the external as well as the internal social system run by the caste rulers and British imperialism. It was to liberate them from untouchability and caste discrimination and to establish rights over resources of livelihood.
The local princes and Zamindars were despotic on them. They were forced to carry out all types of physical work without any remuneration. From generation to generation, they were in bondage and forced to live in inhuman conditions. Farming , weaving , animal rearing , drum beating , leather work, washing and fishing were the activities done by the Dalit communities. Dalit communities were the producing communities without ownership over any resources and, to an extent, even their own physical resources were not owned by them. The Dalit communities also served as village night watchmen and seasonal soldiers in the army of the feudal lords and the local princes during war and conflicts.
It is a difficult task to document the contribution of the Dalit community to the freedom struggle since there are many people repeatedly left out in the history books as insignificant and their work as peripheral, while a very few have received just a nominal mention in history books as there are difficulties to collect information from people. Incidentally, the history books carry very limited information on the Dalit community and about the contribution of Dalit leaders to the freedom struggle.
Talcher Gada Praja Andolan was against the local princes and their bureaucracy. The peasants were forced to pay tax and to comply with Bethi, Pasad and Magana. As part of the Non-cooperation movement in the country , the struggle of the people in the Gadjata areas was directed not only against the British but also their immediate beneficiaries-- the local princes and their employees. As a symbol of non-cooperation, people refused to pay tax and did not provide any support to the local princes and their employees.
Chandrabil village near Kaniha, now famous for NTPC and MCL’s coal mining in Angul district, is also famous for Bika Naik. Bika was born in 1878 in the Pana community in Chandrabil of Sanatribida in Kaniha block. His father’s name was Jataka Naik. He died on September 21, 1938 in police firing on the bank of the river Singida near the village. The villagers narrated that he was about 60 years old when he was killed. Bika was blessed with one daughter, Khairani Naik, who got married to a person of Kumunda village under Talcher block.
Chandramani Behera (78), a native of the same village, told about Bika during this author’s visit to the village. She said that Bika was 12 years old at that time when he was beaten black and blue by a police officer with a lathi.
Raja Kishor Chandra Birabara Harichandan was the king of Talcher Gadajata. An army-loaded truck of the local king was stranded on the Singidajora river. Some of the army personnel had gone to Chandrabil village and came back with 8 to 10 people to push the vehicle, but it was the instruction of the leaders of Prajamandal not to support any ruler or British personnel. The decision was taken at a meeting held at Kosala in September 1938. It was Bika who had taken the lead to oppose the army then and there the army fired on him. A bullet had pierced the chest of Bika. Subsequently, he collapsed and his body was sent to Angul for postmortem. The other affected freedom fighters were Rathi Behera, Magata Maharana, Baishnab Behera and Kalia Sahoo.
The Panchasakha of Prajamandal were Pabitramohan Pradhan, Maguni Pradhan, Dasarathi Pani , Gaurachandra Pradhan and Krutibasa who had taken the lead in the procession and cremation of the body of Bika. The mateydom of Bika provided a big push to movement of the peasants. They were now determined not to help the army vehicle to move. The British political agent, the imperial and the king’s army combinedly tortured the people, said Nrusingha Charan Pradhan, a retired school teacher of Badatrbida, Kaniha.
Kulamani Behera, a school teacher of Badatribida, wrote a historical novel under the title Swadhinata Sagrami Saheed Bika in 1985. The play was staged by the members of Janata Yubak Sanga, Badatribida. The ME school of Badatribida was named after Bika.
The struggle in Talcher was part of the mass movement against the local prince and the British supported exploitation and oppressive rule. Bika was an inspiration for the movement because of his selfless sacrifice for the cause of the people. Many ordinary people from Dalit communities had sacrificed everything in support of the movement with the hope that a new society would emerge where there would be no discrimination, oppression and exploitation.
Dalit communities were always supportive to the social cause and laid down their lives. They never treated the upper caste leaders as their enemy. Rather, they always wanted and supported a common struggle against all kinds of exploitation.
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