A doyen of technical education in the State, a progressive thinker, a firebrand trade unionist and a Marxist-leninist ideologue, Surendra Mudali is no more. He breathed his last on June 2 due to a heart attack. He is survived by his wife Janakibala, son Sangrah, daughter, Itishree, grandson Prateek and a granddaughter Neha.
Mudali was born on July 2 1935. He abolished his first title Choudhury as mark of protest against oligarchical symbol. Having his llB degree from the MS law College, Cuttack, he started practising law under his the then senior and leading advocate Biswnath Pasayat. He moved to Rourkela and started his legal practice there. He earned name and fame in labour law, criminal law and civil suits. Then, he began to champion the cause of the oppressed and depressed industrial labourers. He became the strongest leader of Sundargarh and Keonjhar districts and became a member of the CPI(M) State Working Committee. He carved a niche for himself in the State politics. He had contested in the 1971 by-election from Rourkela against former Chief Minister Biswanath Das. In 1980, he contested as a CPI(M) candidate form Rourkela. He had personal relationship with top CPI(M) leaders like BT Randive, Promod Das Gupta and Jyoti Basu.
He was instrumental in setting up of national level institutes like NIST (National Institute of Science and Technology) at Brahmapur, Apex Institute on the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar road, and Diganta at his birthplace at Alinga in Cuttack district. His sudden demise has created a void difficult to be fulfilled in days ahead.