PURI: A two-day discourse on ‘Gandhi in Odia literature,’ organised by Kendriya Sahitya Academy, to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, was inaugurated by Cuttack MP Bhartruhari Mahtab here on Saturday.
Speaking on the occasion, Mahtab said Utkalmani Gopabandhu Das had inspired Mahatma Gandhi to work on literature and many of Odisha’s writers and poets composed plays, poems and staged operas to preach and propagate Gandhian teachings.
Litterateurs like Banchhanidhi Mohanty, Kuntala Kumari Sabat, Balakrushna Kar, Laxminarayan Sahoo, Anant Kumar Pattnaik and Harekrushna Mahtab had extensively incorporated Gandhiji’s message to weed out untouchability from society and instil confidence in people to raise their voice against the British rule through their works, he said.
Anant Kumar Pattnaik said people, who had not seen Mahatma but were aware of his teachings, were greatly inspired and many were put behind bars for their literature which were banned by British.