Veteran Gandhian Biswanath Patnaik dead

“He was the last true Gandhian of Orissa. They do not make people like him. He never ran after awards unlike many social activists of today,” said Raghunath Rath,a researcher on tribal issues.

The Vanavasi Seva Samity,which worked for the betterment of Dalits and tribals in the southern and western districts of Orissa,turned out to be a venerable institution under the leadership of Patnaik. It took up issues like education and upliftment of downtrodden women,children,abolition of dowry,prohibition etc. Patnaik’s model for social welfare schemes was later prescribed by the Central Government for social welfare schemes for other states.

Born in November 1916 in Kumuruda village of Ganjam district,Patnaik lost his father soon after he was born. For sometime he studied in his village school and then went to Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh,where he studied upto Std VIII. He then dropped out of school and worked as an assistant to another renown Gandhian Gopabandhu Choudhury,who later sent him to Koraput to popularise the use of Khadi among locals. He made khadi so popular in Koraput that,locals started calling him Koraput Gandhi. Patnaik later participated in the Quit India movement and started the Bhoo Satyagraha movement,precursor to the Bhoodan movement of Binoba Bhave.

In 1972,he came to Kandhamal where he started the Vanavasi Seva Samity,under the patronage of which where he opened several school for tribal girls and boys including special school for physically challenged students. The Samiti runs several residential schools for children,orphanages and old age homes. He was addressed as “Agyan” in Kandhamal by the local tribals,who saw him nothing short of a messiah. As a true Gandhian he continued to wear the loin cloth and held a lathi in hand.

As a believer in the philosophy of selfless service,he never accepted the pension for freedom fighters. Though different organisations of the State have come forward to honour him,he preferred to donate all the money he received as awards to his institutions for the tribals. “When his own brother requested him to refer his name for Freedom Fighter’s pension,he simply refused saying it would amount to nepotism,” said Rath.

Jnanpith award winner Gopinath Mohanty’s main protagonist in his famous novel ‘Mati Matal’,was Patnaik. His biography ‘Ajna’ has won the State Sahitya Akademi award. But Patnaik has preferred to live away from limelight among the tribals.