Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) State secretary Deepak Gochhayat has requested CM Naveen Patnaik for installation of a bronze statue of Saheed Baji Rout in Bhubaneswar.
In his letter to the CM, Gochhayat mentioned that Baji Rout was born on October 5, 1926 at Nilakanthapur village of Bhuban block in the district of Dhenkanal.
He was a member of children’s wing of the ‘Prajamanadal Andolan.’ He was also in charge of a country boat at the Brahmani river basin in Dhenkanal district.
There were many martyrs in Odisha at that time, Saheed Baji Rout was one of them. But he was the youngest martyr of our State.
The 12- year-old boat boy was killed by the then British police when he deniedferrying them across the Brahmani river on the night of October 11, 1938.
Though he was a little boy, his dedication, sacrifice and patriotism was unparallel.
He deserves to be duly honoured at the highest level for his contribution to the freedom struggle which took place in 1938 in Dhenkanal district against the atrocity of the Britishers as well as the then king of Dhenkanal.
Even after 73 years of independence of India, we have not yet endeavored to install a statue of Saheed Baji Rout in the State capital.
The statue of the young freedom fighter would be a mark of inspiration to millions of children and people of Odisha and abroad, Gochhayat mentioned in his letter.