**Bhubaneswar:** Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik paid floral tributes to former speaker of Odisha Legislative Assembly Padma Bhushan Pandit Nilakantha Das on the occasion of his 134st birth anniversary on Sunday.
After paying his tributes on the premises of the State Assembly, CM Patnaik said, “In the birth anniversary of Pandit Nilakantha Das, we should all remember the many good deeds he did for our State”.
Prominent among others were Odisha Assembly Speaker Pradeep Kumar Amat, Deputy Speaker Sananda Marandi, SC and ST Development Minister Ramesh Chandra Majhi and BJD Chief Whip Amar Satpathy who also paid their tributes.
Pandit Das was born on August 5, 1884, in Sri Ramchandrapur village of Puri District. He was one of the comrades of ‘Panchasakha’ of ‘Satyabadi Era’. He was an orator, freedom fighter, legislature, politician, social reformer and litterateur.
He secured M. Phil. Degree from University of Calcutta and awarded with prestigious Padma Bhushan in 1960. He denied a lucrative job under British Government and worked as a headmaster of Satyabadi High School. His speeches inspired the young generation to fight against the British Rule and other social evils. He died on November 6, 1967.
In 1951, he was elected to State Legislative Assembly from ‘Swadhin Jana Sangha’ a new party. In 1955, as per request of Jawaharlal Nehru he joined Congress. He was re-elected in 1957 from Congress.
Pandit Das was the Speaker of the Second Assembly after Independence from May 27, 1957 to July 01, 1961.