Madhusudan_Das

His Life and Achievements 189
a division in the then Bengal Presidency. The chief objectives of this
association were: (a) the revival of the dead and the improvement of the
dying industries of Orissa: (b) the utilization of the national resources
of Orissa either as raw materials or as industrial products: (c) the expansion
of raw materials or industrial products of Orissa : (d) replacement of
imported goods by goods of local manufacture without appreciable loss
to the consumer, and (e) the adoption of measures for discovering the
natural resources of Orissa. Such were the radical measures Madhusudan
thought to be implemented in Orissa. That is why he has been rightly
named as "the pioneer in the field of industry" in Orissa.
Like Gandhiji. Madhusudan had also full knowledge and
understanding of the vital role of the Charkha in the national movement
in achieving economic self-sufficiency. In and outside the Utkal Sammilani
platform, he preached to the masses of Orissa, again and again, to revive
and start the 'Charkha Movement' in Orissa. It drew so much attention
within so little a time, that even the Mahatma wrote to Madhusudan in
one of his letters thus:"... you will, of course, teach me how to spread the
message of the spinning wheel in Utkal. Though the Congress has spent
money like water there, it has made little headway..." It may be mentioned
here that Madhusudan was not a man of words alone. He practised what
he preached. Always, he attended the conferences of Utkal Sammilani
wearing hand-spun, hand-woven, and hand-made dhoti, coat and chaddar.
Gandhiji's khaddar only became a political watchword in India much
later.
Though, the Utkal Sammilani was founded in 1903 with the sole
objective i.e. the attainment of a separate statehood for Orissa yet, under
the dynamic leadership of its inspiring founder. Madhusudan. it came to
bear a deep and abiding concern for the social, cultural and economic
improvement of the masses and peasantry in Orissa: which acted, above
everything else, as a chief motivating force behind all its deliberations
and discussions. In specifying and reiterating the meaning and mission
of the Sammilani. Madhusudan wrote as follows in the columns of The
Oriya in its issue of 10th April. 1918: "Unless the poorest and by far the
largest portion of the population improve in their financial condition. it
is idle to talk of Oriya's national advancement". More than this in all his
speeches and addresses he repeated, over and over again, the great cause
of the Oriya peasantry. Wrote Pt. Nilakantha Das from his personal
observation: "I still remember the great enthusiasm with which thousands