Madhusudan_Das

194 Madhusudan Das:
be felt by others, while the zamindars and business magnets had already
constituted organisations of their own in Orissa. So. in order to organize
and knit together this disunited mass of hapless peasants, he formed an
association. "Praja Pratinidhi Sabha" in the year 1912 in Cuttack. Soon it
attracted the tenants of Orissa, as they responded to the clarion call of
Madhusudan all at once and thus it became a true representative
association of me teeming millions of peasants of Orissa in no time.
Hundreds and thousands of peasants, agricultural labourers and field
workers hired on a daily-rent-basis enrolled themselves as members of
this organisation. Its first President became Madhusudan with
Gopabandhu and Pt. Nilakantha as Secretaries on unanimous consent
basis. However, Madhusudan along with his band of co-workers organized
various mass meetings of mis association in me nook and corners of
Orissa e.g.: Puri. Balasore. Cuttack, etc. and endeavoured his best to instil
a sense of confidence and hopefulness in them. Thus, for me first time in
Orissa. Madhusudan became a charismatic leader of the peasants on a
mass basis, whose interests he was destined to guard for over a generation.
Thus, taking Madhusudan's achievements i.e.. his selfless deeds
into proper examination, we can well see and observe the many-faceted
personality he was having. To call a spade, he remained the ideal of the
people of Orissa through the span of his meritorious life. Starting from the
topic of industrialization of Orissa to the protection of tenants's rights.
Madhusudan appeared in full force by ranging his energies from one
field of activity to the other. In this line march never did he feel tired or let
down. Single handed and long before the rise of Swadeshi Movement in
Bengal, he had engaged his hand in improving agriculture by his own
experimental farm. His long-held theory was that unless and until a portion
of agricultural population was brought into certain other industries, it
was impossible to avoid famines, scarcities and pestilence which
invariably follow floods and droughts almost every fifth year in Orissa.
Keeping this in view, he contributed his lot in reviving the rapidly
decaying industry in gold and silver. "The Orissa Art-wares." Moreover,
he was the first man in the men combined and undivided province of
Bengal, Bihar and Orissa to conceive the brilliant idea of making use of
the fabulous resources of hide. skin, and tanstuffs of the country, by starting
a learner manufacturing company' The Utkal Tannery in Orissa in modem
times and that too on modern lines. More so, his memorable memorandum
on the burning issue arising out of the Orissa Tenancy Bill (1911)