BHUBANESWAR: The ruling BJD on Monday reiterated the demand that the Centre should declare 1817 Paika Bidroha as the First War of Independence and said that the reply of Union Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy in Lok Sabha in this regard is an insult to the rich history of Odisha.
In a memorandum submitted to the Union Minister of State for Culture Arjun Ram Meghwal, a delegation of BJD MPs said that the 1817 Paika Bidroha led by Buxi Jagabandhu was the first organised rebellion against the British empire which inspired other uprisings against the foreign rule in the later days.
The BJD MPs referred to a resolution adopted in the Odisha Cabinet on July 18, 2017 and the letter written by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to then Union Home Minister on July 19, 2017 in this regard. Union Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar had on October 23, 2017 said at Bhubaneswar that the Paika Bidroha will find a place in the history books as first War of Independence.
“We strongly demand that the Centre should immediately declare Paika Bidroha as the first War of Independence. Until this demand is met, the pride and the glory of Odisha and the 4.5 crore Odias will not allow us to rest for a moment,” they added.