Baripada: Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs and Jal Shakti Bishweswar Tudu offered tributes to legendary freedom fighter and revolutionary leader Saheed Bagha Jatin on his 108th martyrdom day at Kaptipada in Mayurbhanj district today.
Attending a function to mark the occasion organised by Bagha Jatin Smruti Parishad at Kaptipada, Tudu garlanded the martyr’s statue.
Speaking on the occasion the Union Minister announced that a life-size statue of Bagha Jatin will be soon installed in Kaptipada.
Tudu said that it is because of the blessings of the people of Mayurbhanj that he has been elected as an MP for the first time and has been made a Minister.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not only given a Minister to Mayurbhanj district, but the President of India is also from this district. So Mayurbhanj district which was hitherto unknown to the world is now famous not only in the country but in the world,” he said.
Among others, Udala MLA Bhaskar Madhei, and former Udala MLA Srinath Soren addressed the gathering while remembering Saheed Bagha Jatin.
Saheed Bagha Jatin was born Jatindranath Mukherjee in Kayagram village, which is now in Bangladesh, the title ‘Bagha’, meaning ‘Tiger’ in Bengali, became associated with him after he managed to kill a Royal Bengal tiger in hand-to-hand combat in March 1906.
In 1908, he took over the leadership of the Jugantar Party, a secret revolutionary society operating in Bengal for Indian independence.
During World War I, he moved to Balasore to escape the police. He later moved to a hideout outside Kaptipada village in the Mayurbhanj district, more than thirty miles away from Balasore.
After the police came to know about his whereabouts, he fled from the spot. On 9th September 1915, the police closed in on him and a gunfight ensued. He was injured in the gunfight and later died in Balasore hospital on 10th September 1915.
