The war over India’s First War of Independence is on

What came first—1817 or 1857? It ain’t as mind twirling a question as whether the chicken or the egg came first. Right? Wrong.

From politicians to historians and intellectuals, there are divisions within and with each other over what constitutes India’s ‘First War of Independence’.

It is an issue on which the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha and the Opposition BJP and Congress, at loggerheads at the best of times, are on the same page. Involving as it does Odia pride, the demand for recognition of the Paika Rebellion (Paika Bidroha) of 1817 in Odisha as the ‘First War of Indian Independence’ has united political forces in the state as nothing else in recent memory.

The rebellion that was

For the uninitiated, the Paikas were a martial race employed by the King of Khurda who fought the East India Company forces tooth and nail after the latter implemented a series of oppressive policies that hit the zamindars and the peasants alike. Among them were the abolition of ‘jagirs’ (free, rent-free land) of the Paikas given to them by the King of Khurda, the abolition of cowrie as currency and its replacement with silver and a ban on salt making. But the Paika Rebellion was not an uprising of Paikas alone. All sections of society, including peasants, the priestly class, tribals and common people, participated in it.

In March, 1817, about 400 Kandha tribals from the then Ghumusar kingdom (present-day Kandhamal) marched to Khurda where they were joined by the Paikas under the leadership of Bakshi Jagabandhu Bidyadhar Mohapatra, the head of the Paika army. The rebels notched up some spectacular early successes, burning down a police station in Banpur, taking over the treasury in Khurda and killing several British officials and their Indian cohorts. Such was the ferocity of the attack that the Britishers had to beat a hasty retreat from Khurda. After the initial success, the rebellion received widespread popular support and soon spread to other areas like Puri, Pipli, Cuttack, Kujang, Pattamundai and Kanika.

But the East India Company soon regained control of the situation after additional forces, equipped with superior arms and ammunition, were dispatched from Cuttack. It did not take long for the tables to turn with many rebel leaders killed, captured or banished. Battered and bruised, Bakshi Jagabandhu surrendered in 1825 and was imprisoned in Cuttack where he died in 1829. The rebellion, however, continued sporadically till 1827.

While the entire attention is focused on the Paikas, no one talks about the Kandha tribals of Kandhamal, who initiated the rebellion. Two centuries after they rose in revolt, their plight is no better. Land alienation is rampant while development is yet to reach this stunningly beautiful but extremely poor region.

Prominent Kandha leader and president of the Kui Samaj Samanwaya Samiti Lambodar Kanhar paints a depressing picture of the present status of his fellow tribesmen. “While the rest of the country became independent, we never got independence. In 1817, our ancestors fought against the British. But our own government elected by us has proven to be worse than the Britishers. PESA, the Central act designed to protect tribal land, is implemented more in its breach than its observance. The state government continues to usurp our land under various pretexts. Atrocities against tribals continue and no action is taken against the perpetrators. We are, in fact, worse off than we were in 1817,” he told The Federal.

Political divide

A unanimous resolution demanding reconsideration of the Centre’s decision not to accord the tag of ‘First War of Independence’ was passed in the Odisha assembly on December 7 even as the entire winter session of the House was washed out due to the ruckus created by the Opposition over the demand for the removal of minister of state for Home Dibya Shankar Mishra. Mishra is alleged to have links with the accused in the murder case Mamita Meher, a Kalahandi schoolteacher.

Five days earlier, Union minister for Culture G Kishan Reddy, while replying to a question of BJD member Prashanta Nanda in the Rajya Sabha, had rejected the demand for recognition of the Paika Rebellion as the ‘First War of Independence’.

“The matter was examined in consultation with the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) under the Ministry of Education. As per the comments received from ICHR, Paika Rebellion cannot be called the First War of Independence,” he had told the Upper House. But mindful of the possible adverse reaction in Odisha, the minister announced that it would be included as a ‘case study’ in the Class 8 history text book by National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). The refusal has given a fresh lease of life to the issue, which had been lying dormant for quite a while, with both the political class and descendants of Paikas raising the demand again.

However, when the demand was first raised in 2017, it began as an act of one-upmanship between the BJD and the BJP. The saffron party was the first off the block when Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during a visit to Odisha in April 2017, met and honoured descendants of 16 Paikas, a warrior class, who took part in the rebellion against the East India Company in 1817.

The BJP’s efforts to cash in on this emotive issue to get a foothold in the state didn’t stop here. On July 20, 2017, the then President Pranab Mukherjee launched a year-long celebration to commemorate 200 years of the Paika mutiny at New Delhi’s Vigyan Bhavan. The Modi government followed it up with a provision of Rs 600 crore in Budget 2017-18 for the year-long celebration. On December 24, 2018, Modi released a commemorative stamp and a coin on the rebellion, besides announcing a chair on Paika Rebellion in Utkal University.

In 2017, the then President Pranab Mukherjee launched a year-long celebration to commemorate 200 years of the Paika mutiny in Delhi. Also present were Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik and current Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Photo: Biswaranjan MishraSensing an opportunity to derive some political mileage, the Naveen Patnaik government decided it can’t be left behind. At the inauguration of the year-long celebration of the bi-centenary of the rebellion in the national capital, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik called for its recognition as the ‘First War of Independence’. A day earlier, he had written to Union Home minister Rajnath Singh, after a Cabinet resolution, raising the demand for the first time. Speaking on the occasion, Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan had demanded the setting up of a Paika memorial at Barunei Hill, the place from where the Paikas had launched their rebellion.

On December 8, 2019, President Ramnath Kovind laid the foundation of the proposed memorial while the Odisha government earmarked nine acres of land for the purpose.

Four years down the line, however, the Paika memorial, the showpiece of the commemorative exercise, remains a non-starter due to problems in acquiring the land, about four acres of which is forest land. The BJP and the BJD are engaged in a slanging match over the delay. While the BJP blames the Odisha government for failing to provide the land, Odisha’s minister for Culture Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi told the assembly recently that a little over two acres of land has already been handed over while the rest of the land has been identified and is in the process of being transferred.

No one knows for sure how much of the Rs 600 crore earmarked for the 200th year celebration has actually been spent.

While Dharmendra Pradhan was unavailable for comment, senior Odisha BJP leader and spokesperson Golak Mohapatra refuted the charge that the Centre has put the issue on the backburner after milking it for whatever political dividends it had to offer. Talking to The Federal, Mohapatra said; “It’s not correct to say nothing has been done. The President has already laid the foundation stone for the Paika memorial. Money for the memorial is available and work hasn’t started only because the Odisha government has failed to provide the land for it. The Paika rebellion has been included in NCERT history textbooks. The Paika chair in Utkal University has been started.”

But isn’t the BJP only trying to cash in on the issue politically? “Not at all. All these years, no party raised the issue till we did. It’s an effort to give Odisha its due place in the history of India’s independence struggle and has nothing to do with politics,” he said, adding the ICHR is re-examining the issue following the furore.

Culture minister Jyoti Praksh Panigrahi too denies the charge of politicking, saying it is an issue that involves Odisha’s pride. “Is it not a historical fact that the Paika rebellion was an uprising against the Britishers? And didn’t 1817 come before 1857 (Sepoy Mutiny), which has been accorded the status of India’s First War of Independence? Doesn’t it follow naturally that the Paika revolt should be given the status of the First War of Independence?” he told The Federal.

Asked if the Odisha government has evidence to back its claim, the minister said; “Of course we have. Let them ask for it and the evidence will be given. They have rejected the claim without even asking for evidence.” He also denied the charge that the BJD woke up only after the BJP took it up, saying; “It was the Odisha Cabinet which demanded that the Paika Rebellion be accorded the status before the BJP did.”

Historical perspective

As the political class continues with its effort to cash in on the issue, most historians agree with the ICHR views on the subject. Speaking to The Federal, well-known historian and academic Pritish Acharya said, “Going by historical facts, it cannot be called the First War of Independence because there had been several uprisings against the Britishers at various places in the country before 1817–some of the notable ones being the Sanyasi revolt of 1761 and the Chuaar rebellion of West Bengal. A resolution passed in the assembly cannot negate historical truth.”

Acharya, however, hastened to add that the refusal to give it the status of the first war takes nothing away from its historical significance. “Does the fact that the independence struggle began much earlier than the advent of Gandhiji in the scene in any way make his contribution to the independence of India less significant?” he asked.

While agreeing with Acharya’s view that historical facts are sacrosanct, however, Lalitendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra, a descendant of Bakshi Jagabandhu and the BJP MLA from Brahmagiri, has called for more research on the subject. “I have no doubt in my mind whatsoever that the Paika Rebellion was indeed the First War of Independence. But let historians dig deeper into the matter. The onus is on the Odisha government to provide facts and evidence to back the claim,” he said, adding he would personally take up the matter with the Centre and urge a reconsideration of its stand on the issue.

The intelligentsia in Odisha too wants the recognition of the Paika revolt as the first war of independence. Eminent journalist and Working president of the Kalinga Paika Sangathan Pradyumna Satapathy says, “The Paika Rebellion has not got due recognition in our history books because they were written by historians of the neighbouring state. But there is enough historical evidence available to prove that this indeed was the First War of Independence. We will not stop till the Centre gives it due recognition and the portraits of the heroes of that rebellion like Bakshi Jagabandhu and Jayee Rajguru adorn the Central Hall of Parliament.”

Noted environmentalist and general secretary of Odisha Veer Mahasangha Dr Dillip Srichandan says, “It’s regrettable that the Centre has refused to give the Paika Rebellion the status of India’s First War of Independence.”

As the glorious chapter in Odisha’s history is getting reduced to a political football, there is one issue on which everyone, including historians, agree: first war or not, the Paika Rebellion has not received the recognition it deserves in Indian history.