Nagbhushan Patnaik

Nagbhushan Patnaik

Comrade Nagbhushan Patnaik
Born (1934-11-27)27 November 1934
Padmapur,
Died 9 October 1998(1998-10-09) (aged 63)
Known for Naxalism
Parent(s) Rajalaxmi Patnaik (Mother)
Ramamurthy Patnaik (Father)

Nagbhushan Patnaik was a communist revolutionary[1] from Odisha. Born in a middle-class family at Padmapur on 27 November 1934 to Ramamurty Patnaik and Rajalaxmi Patnaik, Nagbhushan later participated in Naxalbari[2] movement and remained in its front ranks to determine the future course of communist revolutionaries. He was one among the few founders of CPI(M-L) who remained active till the end of their lives.

Childhood

Patnaik spent his childhood days at Padmapur. He completed his primary education at Padmapur and then the family moved to Gunupur where his schooling continued in the Govt. Boys' High School, Gunupur. In one of his interviews at Gunupur, he has revealed one interesting story of his childhood. During his childhood once it so happened that his father got a complaint about Nagbhushan beating some boy and so his father chased him to punish. Nagbhushan started running and managed to enter into a temple, but his father closed the door. When Nagbhushan saw that there was no escape, he took a piece of brick in his hand to throw it at his father & warned him to face unwanted consequences, if he is caught. His father was very much afraid, started laughing, took him to his back and surrendered before Lord Shiva. From that fearful day onwards the boy was known as Nagbhushan.

The spirit of Naxalbari

At the age of 15, he joined the A.I.S.F. during his graduation at S.K.C.G. College of Paralakhemundi. Then he joined the BHU for his post graduation course. He was greatly influenced by the socialistic atmosphere at BHU. Very few people knew that Nagbhushan was a poet too. Najrul Islam was his inspiration. He knew well many languages like Oriya, Telugu, Bengali, but most of his writings are in English. Nagbhushan's 'poems of prisons' [3][4] has been released in Bhubaneswar on 26 August 2012 Nagbhushan was a practising lawyer at Gunupur. He met DBM Patnaik at Gunupur where both of them defended poor peasant cases.

Campaigning true Naxalism

Statue of N.B. Patnaik at By-pass chowk -Gunupur

Interestingly, he never moved a mercy petition, rather wrote a letter to the jail Suptd. asking him to comply with the orders and also to donate his body parts to the needy. At last their efforts compelled the Govt. to commute the death sentence to life sentence. It was only after a long and arduous legal battle that he was released in the middle of 1981 when he was almost on his death-bed. On release, the great leader moved to his residence at Gunupur. He was instrumental in the founding of Indian Peoples Front.

Death

After his release on parole, he spent his days mostly at Gunupur. Most of the time he remained busy with his profession in serving the poor litigants. There he, with DBM Patnaik continued their profession as lawyers by defending the poor peasants cases. Nagbhushan was instrumental in the historic judgment passed by the Hon'ble Supreme court of India, declaring section 309 of the India Penal Code as unconstitutional.[7] Nagbhushan's strong moral stand gave him popularity across party lines. His lifelong mission to unify various revolutionary groups still remains a dream to be fulfilled. Nowadays some of the Naxal groups even forgot to stick to true naxalism and to respect the great leader. On 9 October 1998, Comrade Patnaik breathed his last in a private hospital at Chennai due to renal failure.

References

  1. Chakravarti,, Sudeep. Red Sun: Travels in Naxalite Country. Penguin Books India. pp. 98–99. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  2. "From Naxalbari to Nalgonda". The Hindu Group. The Hindu. 5 Dec 2004. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  3. "Poems of Prisons by Nagbhushana Patnaik released". Odishabarta.com. Odishabarta. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  4. Correspondent, HNF. "Nagabhushan Patnaik’s ‘Poems of Prison’ released in Bhubaneswar". http://hotnhitnews.com/. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  5. Banerjee, Sumanta. "Nagbhushan Patnaik and His Political Legacy". Economic and Political Weekly 33 (44): 27752776. JSTOR 4407316.
  6. "ଚୀର ବିପ୍ଳବୀ ନାଗଭୁଷଣ". Sambad. 9 October 2015. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  7. "Prisoners rights-Google Books-Writ challenging the validity of sec.309 of the Indian Penal Code(GR 177/1984 pending in the court of Sub Judge-JMFC, Gunupur)"
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