Utkal Gaurab Madhusudan Das Jayanti was celebrated with pomp and gaiety here at the Gandhinagar Square on Sunday being jointly organised by the Manaba Adhikar Suraksha Manch and the Utkal Sammilani and attended by a large number of intellectuals, freedom fighters and social activists.
Speaking on the occasion, advocate Simanchal Bisoyi described Madhubabu as a freedom fighter, a poet and the first graduate and lawyer of Odisha, who played a pioneering role to make Odisha a separate State. Madhubabu was a distinctive icon in Odisha’s political, legal and social filaments, he added.
Manbadhikar Surakshya Manch coordinator Abani Kumar Gaya said that after returning to Odisha from Calcutta in 1881, Madhubabu started his legal practice and his deep knowledge in law helped him earn sufficiently which he mostly spent for the common man.
Presiding over the meeting, Manch president Upendranath Mishra said that speaking, writing and communicating in Odia by each and every Odia would be a great tribute to Madhubabu. NGO-CC, Ganjam president Rajanikanta Mandal described Madhubabu as a great lawyer, social reformer and patriot, who worked untiringly for political, social and economic uplift of people of Odisha.
Manch secretary Maguni Nahak said that as a writer and poet, patriotism was always reflected in Madhubabu’s works. He penned a number of articles and poems in both English and Odia such as Utkal Santan, Jati Itihas and Jananira Ukti which tremendously influenced Odias in those days, he added.
Trade union leader and social worker Bulu Das recalled Madhubabu as a great legislator, journalist and social reformer who was always held in high esteem and admired far and wide. Mahatma Gandhi had described him as a great patriot who wore himself out in giving shape to various nation-building schemes.
Speaking on behalf of the Ganjam Vikas Manch, advocate Siba Prasad Mishra said Madhubabu sacrificed his whole life for welfare of his country and people. He spent all his wealth for the sake of the country and ultimately declared himself as an insolvent, he pointed out.
Earlier, the speakers garlanded the statues of the Utkal Gaurab and Mahatma Gandhi and stressed the need for more patronage and assistance for development of Odia language and literature in speaking, writing, research and communication as the language has become the victim of negligence and Western ethos. A large number of students of the Harovina Vidya Bhavan of Hill Patna participated in the celebration.