BHUBANESWAR: Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan, on Thursday, requested the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to set up a memorial at Barunei Fort, near Khurda, in commemoration of Paika Rebellion.
In his efforts to provide due recognition to 1817 Paika rebellion of Odisha in the pages of history as the first freedom struggle of the country, Pradhan has requested the Culture Ministry to identify a suitable place at Barunei, the seat of power of the king of Khurda and the epicentre of Paika rebellion, for the proposed memorial.
“I request you to send a team from the Ministry of Culture to identify a suitable place in the Barunei Fort in coordination with Government of Odisha for erection of the proposed memorial to commemorate Paika rebellion,” Pradhan said in a letter to Union Minister of State for Culture and Tourism Mahesh Sharma.
Thanking Sharma for organising the 200th year celebration of Paika rebellion in New Delhi on July 20, Pradhan said this will be a year-long activity of the Centre as pronounced in the Budget speech of the Union Finance Minister. Pradhan had requested the Centre to construct a befitting memorial at the Barunei Fort as a national monument in consultation with Odisha Government.
At the inaugural event in New Delhi, Pradhan had emphasised that the Paika rebellion of 1817 AD should be given due recognition in the history of Indian freedom struggle. Former President Pranab Mukherjee had addressed the gathering on the occasion which was attended by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
At a function organised in the city recently to felicitate Pradhan, the Union Minister had proposed to install the statue of Buxi Jagabandhu, who led the rebellion against British rule, to commemorate the great freedom fighter.
Though the Paikas, peasant militia of the State, rose in rebellion under the leadership of Buxi in 1817 and the rebellion spread across most parts of Odisha, the history is silent on the freedom struggle while the sepoy mutiny of 1857 was treated as the first uprising against the British.