Madhusudan_Das

148 Madhusudan Das:
In Europe, nation means the people of a state or a country. Just as
the nations of Europe differ from one another in many respects,
the people of different Provinces in India also similarly differ
among themselves. For this reason, the word 'nation' has a specific
meaning in India. It is necessary to build up national organisations
to forge unity and establish friendship between two groups of
people or two societies. Cooperation among different nations is
essential for the development of any one nation and it is necessary
to organise this Conference on this model. In this Conference,
the Oriya people and the Oriya residents in other Provinces are
only promoters. Let us build up this organisation based on selfreliance.
In his presidential address to the Conference in 1913, he said:
It is necessary first to understand the meaning of the Utkal Union
Conference and before that, one should know the significance of
the term 'Union'. There are several kinds of unions in the world.
Even matters are joined together. The carpenter joins two pieces
of wood. This is an instance of joining together of inanimate
matter...In chemistry when two substances are mixed together,
the resultant substance takes a new form and its properties are
different from those of the two substances mixed. For example,
water comes out of two units of Hydrogen and one unit of Oxygen.
These tow gases are invisible whereas water is visible. Gas goes
up but water follows down ; the attributes of water are entirely
different from those of Hydrogen and Oxygen. Thus a Sammilani
is such a kind of fusion that the identity of different units
composing it is altogether lost. Unless individuality is
completely submerged in national life, real union does not take
place. The objective of the Utkal Union Conference is to promote
the welfare of all the residents of Orissa. The Utkal Union
Conference is the assembly of the Orissa People.
He declared in the second Conference in 1904, "Delegates of the Oriyas
Bengalees. Telugus, Gujaratis, Marwaris and other categories of people
have assembled here. If this Conference is not regarded as a national
organisation, then the Congress also cannot be so regarded." 5
In 1912, he said in his address to the Conference:
I do not understand the meaning of the Union and many others
also have not understood it. This is not an assembly like the
meeting of the insurers of an Insurance Company or of the Karan