Prof Radhamohan, who passed away on June 10 in Bhubaneswar, was famous not only for his role in organic farming but he was an extraordinary social revolutionary.
He was fully convinced that unless caste identities are totally done away with, there would be no uniform development and social justice to all. That is why Prof Radhamohan deleted his surname “Panda” and did throw away his Brahminical sacred thread “Paita” before he started teaching Economics in various Government colleges of Odisha. Indeed he set a trend for which Prof Parikshit Nanda became Jantrana Parikshit, Prof Bhagaban Mishra became Prof Bhagaban Prakash, Jagadananda Mohanty became Jagadananda and Prof Ramchandra Senapati became B Ramchandra CST Voltaire. He did not accept the theory that proper names are non-connotative. Clearly, therefore, to assert his understanding of Mahatma Gandhi’s and Tagore’s teachings he named all his three daughters respectively as Sabarmatee, Viswabharatee and Amarabatee.
He believed in peace, justice, equality, disarmament and gender justice. So he solidly stood for priestless love marriage breaking the walls of caste and creed and socio-economic status. Long before Anti-Caste Marriage & One-child Family Organisation of India (AMOFOI) was born on December 10, 1980 Prof Radhamohan, then serving in Dhenkanal College, went to Sambalpur to preside over my casteless, dowryless, priestless unconventional love marriage with my beloved Swapna Bijayini.
The wedding function was held on June 9, 1974 at N Guha Lane, Sambalpur. After the formation of AMOFOI, Prof Radhamohan presided over a number of AMOFOI love marriages.
Since Prof Radhamohan was being held in high esteem by me, my wife and by our two sons Dr JP Russell Ravan and Dr Er Hippu Salk Kristle Nathan. He indeed made it convenient to preside over their respective love marriages. The last unconventional AMOFOI love marriage that he presided over was held on February 9, 2020. Soon after he along with his daughter Sabarmatee were awarded “Padma Shree” for their excellent work in organic farming under the banner of “Sambhav”.
In a piece of barren land at Rohibank in the Odgaon block, Nayagarh, Odisha, he showed how organic farming worked wonders.
It is a fact that although Prof Radhamohan was born in the village Rangoni Patana in the erstwhile princely State of Nayagarh and although his parents belonged to the Brahmin caste, there was no trace of Brahminsm or feudalism in his inter-personal relationship.
He held many high offices in his life but he did not like to show off his authority. That his heart was crying for the poor was clear from an event that he enacted when he was a PG student of Applied Economics at Vani Vihar, Utkal University.
He had no belief in idol worship. On the occasion of Ganesh Puja in 1965 he collected a crowd of ill-clad, ill-fed malnourished children from the nearby slum areas and brought them to the venue of Ganesh Puja to teach his friends the real economic condition of the poor people of India.
To give due recognition to his whole personality, he must be given nothing less than “Bharat Ratna.” This recognition will go a long way in motivating and inspiring all concerned, particularly the youths to break the barriers of caste and creed in the socio-political life of India.
(The writer is general secretary, Freethought Party of India)