BAJI RAUT - The youngest martyr of Indias freedom struggle (1925 - Oct10, 1938) “NUHEN BANDHU, NUHEN EHA CHITA, E DESHA TIMIRA TALE E ALIBHA MUKATI SALITA”. (It is not a pyre, O Friends! When the country is in dark despair, it is the light of our liberty. It is our freedom-fire.) Words written by one of the famous marxist revolutionary Sachi Rautroy, when the dead body of BAJI RAUT, THE YOUNGEST MARTYR OF INDIA, was burning in the pyre on the cremation ground of Khannagar, Cuttack, ODISHA, in the night of an unforgettable October 10, 1938. Baji Raut, the light of liberty, was born in 1925 in the Village of Nilakanthapur in Dhenkanal, His father Hari Raut, had passed away when he was a tiny tot. He was brought up by his mother who was thriving on wages earned by rice-husking in the neighbourhood. He had watched how mercilessly the King of Dhenkanal, Shankar Pratap Singhdeo was fleecing the poor villagers including his mother of their earnings by using armed forces. So, when Baishnav Charan Pattanayak of Dhenkanal town, later famous as Veer Baisnav, raised a banner of revolt against the King and founded Prajamandal, Baji joined it despite tender age. Deciding to crush the movement forever, the king pressed his entire force against the leaders of the movement. Hara Mohan Pattanayak and other top leaders were taken into custody in a surprise raid on September 22, 1938. But the royal forces could not arrest Veer Baishnav Pattanayak.While frantically searching for him, news reached the palace that he was camping in the Village of Bhuban. The armed forces of the King attacked Bhuban on October 10, 1938 for the third time and destroyed many houses by using the elephants and tortured many a persons. But they could not elicit any information on Veer Baishnav despite use of all sorts of brutality.They arrested as many as eight persons and let loose terror to elicit information on Baishnav Pattanayak. At this stage a source informed that he has escaped by jumping into the river Brahmani and swam across to the villages on the other side. The troop started immediate chase. People obstructed. To disperse them, they started firing. Two of the villagers lost their life on the spot. The troop rushed to the nearest ferry at Nilakanthapur on River Brahmani. Baji Raut was on the guard at the Ghat at that time. He was ordered by the troop to ferry them across. He refused. By that time he had heard from those who fled from Bhuban about the brutality the royal troop and had understood that if Veer Baisnav Pattanayak was to be protected, the troops were to be obstructed. He therefore refused to comply with the command. The royal troop threatened to kill him if he did not ferry them across immediately. He rejected their orders again. Surrender to the Prajamandal first, he retorted. A soldier hit his head with the butt of his gun that fractured his skull severely. He collapsed. But he rose. He collected whatever little strength was left in him, and raising his voice to the highest pitch beyond even his strength, warned his villagers of the presence of the royal troop. A soldier pierced his bayonet into the soft skull of the brave boy even as another fired at him. Somebody who was watching this cruelty run to the people and informed them. Charged with wrath and contempt, people in hundreds rushed to the spot like angry lions. Seeing them, instead of running after Baisnav Pattanayak, the panicked troop fled for life. Baishnav Pattanayak collected the corpses and brought them by the train to Cuttack. The news spread like wild fire. People rushed to the Cuttack Station and received the dead bodies raising revolutionary slogans with Lal Salaam to the martyrs. People volunteered to carry the bodies of the martyrs in their bullock carts in a procession to the cremation ground. Quite unusual it was. The peoples of Orissa worship bullocks. One cannot imagine that a person of Orissa can allow his bullocks to carry a corpse. But this happened. Such a thing had never happened earlier and has never happened thereafter. Patriotic fervour was so high. Ah! How it pains to feel that we have now become a different people altogether! How have we forgotten these bravaries! How have we taken our freedom for granted in the shade of democracy! DESH pays homage to Saheed Baji Raut. Courtesy : orissamatters
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 07:53:40 +0000
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