Odisha Assembly Passes Resolution To Demand First War of Independence Tag For ‘Paika Bidroha’

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution to reiterate the demand for declaring ‘Paika Bidroha’ as the ‘First war of Independence’.

The legislators unanimously passed the resolution in the House after  Culture and Tourism Minister Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi urged to recommend the Centre to declare ‘Paika Bidroha’ as the ‘First war of Independence’.

Odisha Government decided to continue the fight in this direction after Union Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy earlier this month stated that ‘Paika Rebellion could not be called the first war of Independence’.

After the Centre’s denial, a delegation of BJD MPs met Reddy’s deputy in New Delhi terming it as “slight and insult to the rich history and culture of Odisha”.

The famous Paika Rebellion of 1817 can be considered as the beginning of a popular uprising against the British and would be included as a case study in the Class VIII National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) history textbook, the MPs stated.

People from different walks of life participated in the ‘Paika Bidroha’ from 1817 to 1825 AD and gave a strong opposition to the British under the leadership of Bakshi Jagabandhu.