The lawyers from Odisha collected signatures of Odias residing in different States for Bharat Ratna to Utkalgaurab Madhusudan Das posthumously.
The signature campaign was organised on the premises of the Supreme Court. All India Bar Association national joint general secretary Bibhu Prasad Tripathy, Bhubaneswar Bar Association president Rabi Narayan Samantaray, secretary Raj Kishore Das, joint secretary Rajendra Kumar Das, Chinmay Kumar Mohanty, Pradipta Kumar Pal, Abinash Mohanty, Sabyasachi Sutar and Chitrasen Srichandan actively participated in the campaign coordinated by lawyer Dr Lingaraj Sahoo.
Earlier, signatures were collected from 12 States including Uttar Pradesh, Chennai (TN), Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Punjab, Bengaluru (Karnataka), Uttarakhand and Gujarat. The signature campaign started in Kolkata in 2018.
"Many great leaders have been honoured with the coveted Bharata Ratna since 1954. But no Odia legend has been given the award. Now, it is the right time to amend the historic injustice done to Odisha and recognize the incomparable sacrifices of Madhubabu to the people of the State," said Dr Lingaraj Sahoo.