BHUBANESWAR: The demand by Odisha government for declaration of ‘Paika Bidroha’ of 1817 as the first war of Independence against the British Empire is under consideration of the Centre. Union Minister for Culture and Tourism G Kishan Reddy informed this in the Rajya Sabha in a written reply to a question from BJD MP Prasanna Acharya.
The Minister said that a reference requesting to declare the earliest resistance movement as the first war of Independence was received by the Ministry of Culture through the Home Ministry. “The issue was examined in consultation with the Indian Council of Historical Research (Ministry of Education) and is currently under consideration of the Ministry of Education,” he added.
To another long-standing demand of the Odisha government to confer classical status to Odissi music ‘vocal and instrumental’, the Union Minister said it does not come under the mandate of the Ministry of Culture. He informed that the Sangeet Natak Akademi under the Ministry of Culture, being the national academy of music, dance and drama, does not use the word classical. “It deals with two main streams of music - Hindustani music and Carnatic music. Hence, the demand does not come under the purview of the Culture Ministry,” he added.
Reddy, however, said that Akademi had awarded Gopal Chandra Panda and Bankim Sethi in 2011 and 2013 respectively in the field of Odissi music. The Odisha government had decided at a meeting of the State Cabinet presided by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on July 18, 2017 to make a formal demand to the Centre for declaring Paika Rebellion (Sipahi Bidroha) of 1817 as the first war of Independence in Indian history.
The Chief Minister had also raised the demand at the foundation stone laying ceremony for the Paika Rebellion memorial at Barunei by President Ram Nath Kovind on December 8, 2019. He had also urged the Centre to run a special express train named after Buxi Jagabandhu, who led the Paika Rebellion.