Subhas Chandra Pattanayak
The first day in the 17th Assembly became an embarrassment to Orissa when Governor Raghubar Das delivered his customary speech in Hindi in blatant disregard to the sentiment of the people of Orissa and the Leader of Opposition Naveen Patnaik did not oppose to that.
The British was afraid of the valor of the Oriyas, as the first struggle of freedom it had faced in India (Subhas Chandra Pattanayak, Sri Jaya Devanka Baissi Pahacha, Bharat Bharati, 2005, page 39) was such that their participating historian G. Toynbee had to admit, “we had to encounter a storm which burst with so sudden furry as to threaten our expulsion, if not from the whole of Orissa, at least from the territory of Khurda” (O.H.R.J. Vol 1&2). They had to agree with their Law enforcer W.Forrester that, the Oriya speaking people are of such “disposition” that they cannot be subdued “either by military or police” (Para 18 of Forrester’s report to Commissioner Robert Ker, dated the 9th September 1818). Thereafter through tricks, the British had arbitrarily divided the Oriya speaking tracks and clubbed the divided portions with the major areas of rival tongues to reduce the brave Oriyas to the status of linguistic minorities.
The nation of Oriyas woke up against this evil design, first in a meeting at Ghumusar under leadership of Dinabandhu Pattanayak and finally under the leadership of the great Madhusudan Das. The movement was so unique and justified that Mahatma Gandhi had to note in Young India on18 Feb.1920 that, “The fine race (of Oriyas) cannot possibly make the natural advance, which is its due, if it is split up into four divisions for no sound reason.”
However, when British was torturing this “fine race” with its policy to weaken the valorous people of Oriya tongue by reducing them to the ignominious status of linguistic minorities in the bordering provinces to which they were force-transferred, the Hindi speaking people had played havoc with their lives in the Sambalpur region. By influencing the British, they had imposed Hindi in the region we now call ‘Western Orissa’.
Their design was exposed by the great poet Gangadhar Meher in a poem captioned “Utkal Bharatir Ksobha”. A relevant portion is extracted below:
“ସମ୍ବଲପୁରର ଅଧିବାସୀମାନେ ଉତ୍କଳ ଚିର ସନ୍ତାନ
ହିନ୍ଦୀ ଆଧିପତ୍ୟ ହୋଇବା ସେଠାରେ ଶୁଣି ସର୍ବେ ହତଜ୍ଞାନ ।”
(All the people of the region were in overwhelming anguish due to proposed imposition of Hindi as their official language.) The idea of replacing Oriya with Hindi was engineered by the Hindi speaking fellows posted as employees in the offices of the Sambalpur belt. Depicting this mischief, the poet had rued,
ସମ୍ବଲପୁରରୁ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ନିର୍ମୂଳ ହେବାର କାରଣ ଏହି
ରାଜକର୍ମଚାରୀ , ହିନ୍ଦୀ ବାନା ଧରି ମହାରାଷ୍ଟ୍ରୀ ଛନ୍ତି ରହି ।
ସେମାନଙ୍କ ଜ୍ଞାନ ଉତ୍କଳରେ ଶୂନ୍ୟ ହେବାରୁ ହେଲା ସଙ୍କଟ
ଏଥିପାଇଁ ଏବେ ଉତ୍କଳ ନିର୍ମୂଳ ହିନ୍ଦୀ ହୋଇବ ପ୍ରକଟ ।
(These Hindi-speaking employees are the root cause of removal of Oriya from offices. Maharastrians are floating their Hindi flag. As they do not know Oriya language, they have created this situation for administration in Hindi. As a result their conspiracy, Oriya is being ousted from offices and Hindi is being ushered in to engulf our land.)
There was monumental mass movement against this evil design of the Hindi speaking employees. Even when Hindi was imposed and the people of Sambalpur region demanded for restoration of their language Oriya in the offices, the Hindi speaking fellows of the Central Province had succeeded in influencing the British authorities to reject the demand on the ground that, Hindi being the language of the majority of the population of the province, its status as official language cannot be changed. Brajamohan Pattanayak, Madan Mohan Mishra, Mahant Bihari Das and Balabhadra Suar, on behalf of the people of Sambalpur, submitted a memorandum to Viceroy Curzon demanding immediate withdrawal of Hindi from the offices in the region or to “return” the region Orissa. Below is an extract:
“Once it is considered impossible to introduce Oriya in only one district of Central Provinces, our district should be returned to Orissa.”
The Hindi speaking fellows were claiming that the region is Hindi dominated. A great mass meeting was held in Sambalpur under the presidentship of Dharanidhar Mishra. It resolved and reported to Viceroy Lord Elgin II that those who project Hindi as their language are hardly 5% of the population of Sambalpur district. Yet, their so-called Hindi is in fact a hybrid called Lariya, which is generated by an admixture of Oriya and Hindi. this admixture has has developed, as Hindi speaking fellows having come in many numbers to conduct business have failed to retain their language and mixed the same with Oriya, to manage their business. It shows the strength of Oriya language in the District . An extract of this historic resolution is produced below:
“ହିନ୍ଦୀ ଏଠିକାର ଏକ ପଞ୍ଚମାଂଶ ଲୋକଙ୍କ ଭାଷା ବୋଲି କଥିତ ହୋଇଅଛି । କିନ୍ତୁ ଏକଥା ଏଠାରେ ଉଲ୍ଲେଖଯୋଗ୍ୟ ଯେ, ଏହି ଏକ ପଞ୍ଚମାଂଶ ଲୋକଙ୍କ ଭାଷା ଗୋଟିଏ ଅଚିହ୍ନିତ ଲାରିଆ ନାମକ ସ୍ଥାନୀୟ ଭାଷା । ଏହି ଲରିଆ ଭାଷା ଯେ ହିନ୍ଦୀ ଓ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷାର ମିଶ୍ରଣରେ ଉତ୍ପନ୍ନ ତାହା ସମସ୍ତଙ୍କୁ ଜଣା ଅଛି । ହିନ୍ଦୀଭାଷୀ ଲୋକମାନେ ବେପରବଣିଜ ପାଇଁ ଏଠାକୁ ବହୁତ ପରିମାଣରେ ଆସି ବାସ କରି ସ୍ଵୟଂ ଭାଷା ଅକ୍ଷୁର୍ଣ୍ଣ ରଖି ପାରିନାହାନ୍ତି ବରଂ ଓଡ଼ିୟା ଶବ୍ଦ ଓ କଥନ ପ୍ରଣାଳୀ ଗ୍ରହଣ କରି ଅଛନ୍ତି । ଏଥିରୁ ଓଡ଼ିୟା ଭାଷାର ପ୍ରାଧାନ୍ଯ ଅନାୟସରେ ବୁଝିପାରାଯାଏ ।”
Despite this reality, the Hindi chauvinists had succeeded in imposing their language on administration of the Oriya speaking district. People of the region raised such a unique agitation to preserve their beloved language Oriya, that Sambalpur became identical with linguistic nationalism.
Viceroy Lord Curzon asked Commissioner of Central Provinces Sir Andrew Fraser to conduct a spot survey to determine the real language of the people of Sambalpur district and report. Informing this to Madhubabu on 12 September1901, the Viceroy assured to take the final decision on receipt of Fraser’s report. Fraser reported that the Language of the district was Oriya.
With this the conspiracy of the Hindi speaking people against the Oriyas had to fade away and the Sambalpur district returned to Orissa.
This historical truth that Hindi language had played the nastiest tricks to keep people of the western part of Orissa bereft of their language in their offices for such a pretty long time, has never been forgotten by the nation of Oriyas. Taking advantage of a non-Oriya dominated administration, the Hindi speaking people are presently active in ruining the primacy of Oriya language in our border areas and industrial nerve centers like Rourkela.
The Governor addressing the first session of the new Assembly in Hindi language is as much an insult to the “fine race” of Oriyas, as is deviation from legislative tradition of Orissa.
Naveen Patnaik in his avatar as Leader of Opposition should have protested against this insult to Oriya mana by the Governor and the walkout of his party should have been linked to this deviation, which also has violated Section 3A of Orissa Official Language Act, 1954.
Instead of doing this, the BJD staged a walkout under his leadership in protest against criminal misconduct of the Governor’s son. Naveen needs to be said that the State has not yet fully recovered from the climate of crime his long tenure in the Chief Minister’s chair had generated. The evident delay in acting against the son of the Governor is the result of the habitual administrative apathy shown sans qualms to any Oriya’s complaint during his regime that has just ended. Instead of finding fault with officials over their inability to act promptly against the son of the Governor, who thrashed a government employee to physical injuries at Puri Rajbhavan recently, Naveen Patnaik should have felt ashamed of his own performance as chief minister that had made Himalayan contribution to employee-raj in Orissa, which has shown its ugly face in dealing with the offence caused by the Governor’s son.
