Madhusudan_Das

His Life and Achievements 215
Madhusudan laid the foundation of the Utkal Union Conference
at Cuttack in December 1903 which served as a public forum to express
grievances and to unite the Oriya people. Drawn from various comers
and areas, the Oriya speaking delegates met once a year under the
leadership of a group of moderates like Madhusudan Das, Rajas of
Kanika, Mayurbhanj, Parlakhemendi and Khalikote to mobilise public
opinion in promoting education, agriculture, industries and unity.
Madhusudan inspired the delegates with examples of history, culture
and literature and imbibed in them a sense of nationalism and pride.
We went round scattered tracts carefully choosing venue for the annual
conferences so that the message of national unity would reach the
interiors of Parlakhemendi, Ganjam and Singhbhum. He edited the
newspaper The Oriya as the mouth piece of the Utkal Union Conference.
He encouraged the craftsmen of Orissa to produce best filigree works
and clothes. The Utkal Tannery was established to provide employment
apart from utilising indigenous raw materials and earning high reputation
for his people. He sponsored brilliant young Oriya students to go abroad
for technical education. As a member of the legislative councils of
Bengal, Bihar and Orissa and the Imperial council he pleaded before
the Government to accept the legitimate demands of the Oriya-speaking
people. He visited England twice to convince the British
parliamentarians the logic and justification for his demands.
Madhusudan was the undisputed leader and spokesman of his
people, He personified Oriya nationalism. He raised the Oriya-speaking
people from the stupor of ages, created in their minds the hope of a
promised land, the dream of having a separate identity. He organised
them into a nation by hammering them into a common mould through
the Utkal Union Conference. Alone he played the role of Mazzini,
Cavour and Garibaldi successfully.
In 1917, his efforts bore fruit when Montagu-Chelmsford
Reforms suggested the creation of a sub province for the Oriya-speaking
people. After 1920, though he withdrew from political activities due to
differences with the Congressites, his disciples held aloft the torch of
leadership and fought undauntedly during the Phillip-Duff enquiry and
the visit of the Simon Commission to Patna for a separate province. Ill
health and insolvency forced Madhusudan to maintain a low profile in