First War Of Independence Status To ‘Paika Rebellion’ Under Consideration: Union Minister

New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s demand for rewriting history to reclaim the lost glory of the Paika Rebellion is under consideration, Union Minister for Culture and Tourism G. Kishan Reddy told the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

In a written reply to a question from BJD MP Prasanna Acharya, the Union Minister said that the Ministry of Culture had received a reference requesting to declare the earliest resistance movement as the first war of Independence 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.

On classical status to Odissi music ‘vocal and instrumental’, Reddy said that it does not come under the mandate of the Ministry of Culture.

“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 and C,arnatic. Hence, the demand does not come under the purview of the Culture Ministry,” he added.

The Union Minister informed the Upper house that the Akademi had awarded Gopal Chandra Panda and Bankim Sethi in 2011 and 2013 respectively in the field of Odissi music.

On July 18, 2017, the Odisha cabinet had decided to make a formal demand to the Centre for declaring the Paika Bidroha of 1817 as the first war of Independence in Indian history. In October that year, the then Union Minister for Human Resources Development Prakash Javadekar had assured to revise history textbooks in the schools but declined to give a timeline about the proposed revision.

Javadekar had mentioned historians from south India claiming Travancore rebellion against the British East India Company in 1808 as the first revolt against colonial rule.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik 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. “It involved all sections of people and could not be a mere coincidence that the rebellion measured by its form as well as content provided a marvellous analogy with the subsequent freedom movement across the country and its outcome,” he had said.

Naveen had also urged the Centre to run a special express train named after Buxi Jagabandhu, , military chief of the then King of Khurda who led the Paika Rebellion.