Manas Ranjan Mahapatra, Puri, 27 November 2022
We don’t know his date of birth. But we know that he was two years younger than Gobinda Mausa (Gandhian leader, Gobinda Tripathy). My father, Lakhmidhar Mahapatra, was possibly born at Puri in 1922. This inference is from the fact that the birth centenary of Gobinda Mausa was observed two years ago.
My father joined the Indian National Congress and the Freedom Movement in 1939 at the age of 17. He was arrested, put in Puri Jail, and released after 6 months. He was arrested again in 1940 and lodged in Brahmapur Jail. He was released after a year. Arrested for the 3rd time during the Quit India Movement, he was kept in Brahmapur Jail for 3 years, i.e., 1942-45. His jail mates included Dr. Harekrushna Mahatab, Banamali Pattnayak and Gobinda Tripathy. He was also in Hazaribagh Jail for some time, but no record could be traced out.
After Independence of India, he was a member of the District Congress Committee (DCC), Puri till 1951 and then joined Ganatantra Parishad. He became the District Correspondent of its daily newspaper, “Ganatantra”. The Ganatantra Parishad merged with the Swatantra Party and the latter began publishing a daily newspaper, “Swarajya” of which my father became the District Correspondent at Puri. He was also the General Secretary of the Party. He edited the “Janamata” weekly newspaper from Puri during 1967-70. He became the Vice President of the Puri District unit of the Swantantra Party till it merged with the Pragati Dal in 1972. He protested this merger and took voluntary retirement from politics despite being offered a party ticket by the leader of the Pragati Party, Biju Patnaik. His dislike for Biju Patnaik was open and he didn’t compromise with his beliefs and ideals.
He was Executive Committee member of the Indian Federation of Working Journalists during 1970-73. He got the prestigious pension meant for Freedom Fighters in 1972 and was honoured by the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, in 1974. Though he retired from party politics, he continued to work with people. He was Member, Sakhigopal Regulated Market Committee for coconut growers during 1978-83. During his lifetime, he was honoured by various Chief Ministers of Odisha several times for his contribution to social service. This continued till his death in 2008.
Such was the attraction and appeal of Gandhiji and the freedom movement that people like my father jumped into the freedom struggle without caring about personal gains. The story goes that my father went to buy some groceries for the house and did not return. My Grandfather waited till midnight and then went out in search of his son…and learnt from people that there was a meeting at “Singhadwar” (Lion gate of the Jagannath temple) in Puri from where the British Police arrested many freedom fighters. Those days they were called “Satyagrahis”. People said that a young boy gave a good speech and was arrested too. My grandfather reached Puri Jail and found his son there. Some other people like Panka babu (Lokanath Mishra) were also there. The year was 1939. From 1939 to 1945 my father remained in jail at Puri and Brahmapur on three different occasions. Two jail mates that my father used to fondly recollect were Dr. Harekrushna Mahatab and Banamali Pattanayak. Gobinda Tripathy and Jadumani Jena must have been there too. The latter two could not make it to the top of the political pyramid, as they were very simple and honest men. Dr. Mahatab became CM of Odisha and Banamali Pattanaik became education minister.
The first marriage of my father happened when he was 18. According to my grandmother, that marriage could not be consummated as the Child Bride suffered from Pneumonia and died. My father got busy in the freedom movement and in the post-independence period, in the higher studies of my uncle. He did not get time to think of marriage again. Finally, my uncle got a job in 1958 and my father married for the second time.
Those days, politics was all about service to the people. Today, it is all about illegal exercise of power and accumulation of wealth through corrupt means. Ministers and leaders today are often caught in immoral activities like sex rackets and financial scams.
Nationalism and Patriotism were one and the same during the freedom struggle. It changed in the post-independence period. My father used to say, “we are a nation without a national character….citizens without morality. Gandhiji created a dream, and others ruined it.”
While chairing the plenary session of an International Seminar on Re-inventing Nationalism at the Department of Journalism, Guwahati University, six years ago, I was thinking about his famous words. My father, Gobinda Mausa, Jadu Mausa, and many others were in my thoughts. They were demanding answers from the next generations….what happened to our collective dream of seeing a free and developed India? The Ramarajya that Gandhiji told us? But neither I had an answer nor could anyone from the younger generation provide them with any answers.
Their sacrifices seem to have gone in vain.
