Gopabandhu & Madhu Babu — The battle between two Ideologies
During the first quarter of the last century, there was clash between the two visions for Utkala Sammilani - the organization behind the struggle for separate Odisha state, represented by two of its top most leaders
Utkal Sammilani and Struggle for creation of Odisha Province
Odisha became a new state on April 1st, 1936, after years of struggle. Odisha was the first state that was formed on basis of language. Different regions constituting present Odisha were earlier part of Bihar Province (Balasore, Cuttack and Puri Districts), Madras Presidency (Ganjam and Koraput Districts) and Central Province (Sambalpur District). There has been attempts to unify Odia Speaking regions under British Rule, since latter half of 19th Century. All these attempts culminated in the formation of Utkala Sammilani in 1903.
Among various leaders, Utkala Gouraba Madhusudan Das played the most important role in the formation of the Sammilani and subsequent effort for creation of Odisha province. The other important character in the formation of the province was Pandit Gopbandhu Das. Gopabandhu was not only social reformer and politician, but was also one of the foremost poet of Odisha.
Battle of between two competing ideologies:
Since the earlier days of Utkala Sammilani, Madhusudan Das, fondly known as Madhu Babu, was the putative leader of the movement. However, by late 1910s, Gopabandhu had started challenging Madhu Babu’s vision for the Sammilani.
Fundamentally, Gopabandhu differed from Madhu Babu in two ways — While Madhu Babu’s goal was to create a separate province for all Odia speaking people and wanted Utkala Sammilani to work with that objective only; Gopabandhu did not see any difference between Odia provincialism and Indian nationalism. Further, Madhu Babu believed in moderate path of petitioning with British government. On the other hand, Gopabandhu wanted to adopt Gandhiji’s mode of mass protest and non-cooperation with the British Government. He suggested that Utkala Sammilani should eschew the path of moderation.
Passing of Baton from Madhu Babu to Gopabandhu:
Because of these difference between Madhu Babu and Gopabandhu, there was clash about the role of Utkala Sammilani, between the older generation (led by Madhu Babu) and the younger brigade (under Gopabandhu). Gopabandhu, along with few others leaders from younger generation, attended the annual session of the Congress held at Nagpur in the last week of December 1920. Along with the acceptance of main resolution on Non-cooperation, the leaders from Odisha supported the formation of Provincial Congress Committees on the linguistic basis. They decided that Orissa should have a separate Congress Committee to be known as ‘Utkala Pradesh Congress Committee’. Further, they wanted Utkala Sammilani to accept similar goal.
Against this backdrop, the Utkala Sammilani Conference was held at Chakradharapur on 30th and 31st December 1920 and 1st January 1921. This conference was not attended by Madhu Babu to avoid confrontation with the younger brigade. In this conference, Gopabandhu moved a resolution for acceptance of the objectives and aspirations of the Indian National Congress by Utkala Sammilani, which was passed.
After this conference, the Madhu Babu’s leadership of Utkala Sammilani was substituted by Gopabandhu’s. The period of moderation for the Sammilani was over. The Chakradharpur session also brought back Odia leaders to the mainstream of national politics. From 1922 till Gopabandhu’s death in 1928, both Utkala Sammilani and Utkala Pradesh Congress Committee worked as one organization, with Gopabandhu as the leader of both.
Death of Gopabandhu and Separation of two strands of ideology:
Gopabandhu fell ill and died suddenly on 17th June 1928, at the age of 50. In his lifetime, he was successful in bringing together the two strands of Odia provincialism and Indian nationalism, successfully. However, after his death, his successors could not achieve so and leaders who stood for the formation of Odisha province, parted their ways. Most important among these leaders was Maharaja Krushna Chandra Gajapati Narayana Dev.
However, by the time of death of Gopabandhu, Odisha was on the verge of becoming a separate province. As the day of Odisha becoming a separate state came closer, the fervour of Odia provincialism kept declining. On the other hand, Indian nationalism reached its zenith in 1930s and became the dominant ideology in the state, till India’s independence.
Reference:
- Choudhury, J. January 2009. National Movement in Orissa and Pandit Gopabandhu. Odisha Review
- Patnaik, M. April 2015. Last Year of Gopabandhu’s Life, Odisha Review