On the occasion of the 125th foundation day of National Archive of India (NAI), a documentary film on laxmi Panda An Unsung INA Soldier of Odisha was screened at the NAI conference hall here on Wednesday.
“The fight for our Independence would not be complete without recognising the valuable role played by the woman who was mostly illiterate, came from a very poor family and lent her unstinting support to the freedom fighters at a time when stepping out of the house was considered forbidden for women,” said social activist Anil Dhir.
The Indian National Army (INA) under the leadership of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose played a very significant role in India’s freedom struggle outside the frontiers of India. In this crucial struggle, the role of the Odia people was important. There were approximately eight hundred Odias in the INA and among them was laxmi Panda from the present Koraput district.
laxmi Panda was one of the youngest members in the INA and the only Odia woman in it. Her father was also a soldier of the INA and both her parents were killed in a British air raid in Burma, where they were staying.
The determination to avenge the death of her parents made laxmi go to the nearby INA camp where she begged for enrolment in the rank and file. She was hardly fourteen years of age when she trained in swordsmanship, shooting and espionage. As she was well-verse with the Burmese language, she was often sent across enemy lines for collection of intelligence.
Then laxmi Ratha, she married another INA veteran, Khageswar Panda, in 1951 of Jeypore. She breathed her last on November 15, 2008.
Dhir lamented that laxmi remains unappreciated since not many people know much about her. True, she is at least recognised at her birthplace Koraput with a street named after her and a statue erected in Jeypore, he added.