Baji Rout, a 12-year-old boy and Keuta by caste, was an active member of the Banar Sena of Prajamandal at Bhuban in Dhenkanal district.
The Prajamandal was an organisation in the pre-Independence era. The same used to lead the movement against the oppressive British rule and also against the atrocities of the then kings. Rout used to ferry his boat on the Brahmani river for a living. He had volunteered to keep a watch on the river as on the other side of the river at Bhuban, a group of freedom revolutionaries were to assemble. The British police got to know about the meeting of the revolutionaries and a platoon was marched to catch them. On reaching the river the British police ordered Baji to row his boat and to take them across the other side of the river so that the revolutionaries could be nabbed.
However, to this, young Baji denied. He did not row the boat across river Brahmani. Besides to ensure that no one could move his boat, he threw the rows of the boat into the river. In rage and to set an example for the revolutionaries, on October 11, 1938, the British police shot Baji dead.
October 4 last marked the 90th birth anniversary of the martyr. At several places remembrance meetings were held. At Baji Chowk of Dhenkanal, several gathered to pay floral tributes on the statue of Baji Rout. At Nilakanthapur in Bhuban, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack ,Sambalpur and several other places floral tributes were paid and at several places remembrance meetings were held to commemorate the birth anniversary of Saheed Baji Rout.
Eminent socio-political leader and SNSMT chairman Suparno Satpathy paid floral tributes to Saheed Baji Rout at the Smt Nandini Satpathy Memorial Trust (SNSMT) office. He even tweeted about the same.