The birth and death anniversaries of Gopabandhu Das are publicly acknowledged in terms of Christian calendar and Hindu calendar. The birthday (Jayanti) of Gopabandhu is observed on October 9 as per the Christian calendar.

The death anniversary of Gopabandhu, however, is observed on the day of Netrotsav as per the Hindu Panjika. This manner of remembering one of the founders of Odisha is unusual and unique.    

By general description and estimation, Gopabandhu is seen as a kindhearted, helpful and self-sacrificing, sentimental, relief provider during natural calamities. Many sterling facets of Gopabandhu’s life are not adequately analysed and projected.

The demand for a linguistic State emanated from persons like Gopabandhu. It took long years of struggle for Odisha (then Orissa) to be formed before the onset of the country’s independence. In other words, the State of Orissa was carved out during the colonial British regime in 1936. The Utkal Sammilani was the platform bringing together multi-faceted personalities, who provided adequate leadership.

But the unique ability and skill of Gopabandhu was amply demonstrated through his successful attempt at harmonising and merging the stream of regional aspirations with the mainstream of the national movement for independence.

Gopabandhu realised that the socioeconomic structure of Odisha required multipronged attack so as to make a dent for the better.

He, therefore, made efforts for preserving and propagating the language of Odisha, the cultural ethos of Odisha and incredible heritage that has come as a legacy.

Way back on April 10, 1921, Gandhiji wrote, “But I am afraid Orissa beats Champaran in this respect.

The difference between the two is that in Champaran the ryots had been impoverished by the oppression of the indigo planters whereas in Orissa the suffering is due to the wrath of Nature.

Either the crops do not grow through lack of rains or there are floods following excessive rains and the crops and houses are washed off; hence, there is always a near-famine in this province. In this godforsaken region, the one real leader is Gopabandhu Das ….. After visiting Gopabandhubabu’s school, we went on to Jagannath Puri ……. Thick darkness reigns in the recess where the images are installed. There is neither air nor light. One or two lamps burn dimly, that is all. …… As at other places, here too the priests are a terror. They fleece the devout pilgrims. How is it that Jagannath remains a silent witness to all this wickedness? …. The words of the Mahatma speak for themselves and can hardly be improved upon. The “school” mentioned above is the Bakul Ban Open-Air School. Its identity is about to be lost with the location of the Odia University in that area. One’s thought naturally goes out on Gopabandhu’s birthday raising the demand for maintaining the identity and legacy of the open-air educational institution, which can be an adjunct to the university.

Gopabandhu also realised that the transmission of thoughts and interaction with the people is the foundation of the newspaper “Samaja”, which is heading towards celebrating its birth centenary.

While advocating for observation and propagation of Odia language, Gopabandhu ensured provision of adequate infrastructure for the schools teaching Odia in the border areas. Seeing Odisha as a prosperous and leading State had been the dream of persons like Gopabandhu.

He caused structural and reform-oriented steps in the field of education, healthcare, media and practically every facet of societal existence of the residents of this area. Sadly, we are still at the mercy of nature for our agriculture. Villages are being mocked at by the degenerating agro-rural sector. This scenario would not have pleased Gopabandhu.

Gopabandhu was also involved with labour reforms and labour union activities. He along with Lala Lajpat Rai founded the Lok Sevak Mandal. He had successfully metamorphosed from a regional or local leader to a leader in the national platform. Founding a newspaper in the context of the then prevalent condition and making an impact through that medium is a herculean task by itself. It is a matter of regret that decades after his demise, some of the problems still continued to be uncared for.

If one peruses the speeches of Gopabandhu in the Bihar-Orissa Council, many of the problems continue to persist in one form or the other.

There is a marginal change, but the core malady continues to be the same.

A journalist friend was the other day speculating about the nature of response and reaction of Gopabandhu if he was to land as a young lad, the confrontation of Gopabandhu with the prevalent socioeconomic surroundings would have been a painful experience; and most likely he would have left the world disappointed and betrayed by a few coworkers. Another great ability of Gopabandhu was in bringing talents from different areas together and form his own brigade.

All these persons had succeeded in life and went out to serve their society for causing a change for the better. From being the Gandhi of Odisha, he went on to organise the first successful public strike in Calcutta.

There have been attempts at belittling Gopabandhu’s activity as a labour leader by styling his influence to have been conditioned by Odia migrant labour. This small-minded comment should be ignored. Gopabandhu led the Utkal Pradesh Congress Committee and had the audacity to sit independently of the Bihar-Orissa contingent.

This was before creation of the State of Orissa. At that time, many leaders of the Indian National Congress who belonged to Bihar had reservations in the matter. When it was known that there was tacit support from Gandhiji, they let Gopabandhu lead the Utkal  Pradesh Congress Committee contingent with a separate identity.

This brings us to the very core of the existence of our society. Gopabandhu gave an Odia his identity. He did not suffer from any identity crisis in the then prevalent hostile social political structure. His further ability was to cause structural changes so that a new State is born with a linguistic identity.

Respectful homage to a personality like Gopabandhu should appropriately be through deeds and not through an over-exercised vocal cord. Rituals may be demonstrative in paying homage, but that has no lasting effect unless the corresponding social change in this regard is brought about. Our society is in a disarray. We carry a dominant bulk of youth power, who have to be developed as skilled and educated human resource.

A social churning is necessary through democratic process in our paying appropriate homage to persons like Gopabandhu.

The celebration of the centenary of the foundation of the “Samaja” can appropriately be put into an operation over the next year to cause feasible changes for the better. Gopabandhu is not to be confined to the busts only, his spirit must charge our society for a radical change for the better.

(The writer, a Senior Advocate, is a former All India Service officer, a former diplomat, a former editor, a former President of Orissa High Court Bar Association and a former Advocate General of Odisha. jayantdas@hotmail.com )