THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY September 26, 1959

Politics in Orissa—IV The Oriya Movement F G Bailey THE President of the Utkal Sam. Orissa—then the present districts Bengali friends cut it off with a mllani (Utkal Union Confer­ of Cuttack, Puri, and Balasore— pair of sharp scissors . ... During ence), addressing its fifty-first was taken from the Marathas in the years of Bengali persecution session at Berhampur on March 1803 and governed from Calcutta. at school I looked back with a 16th 1959, said, The southern part—the present dis­ sigh, a regret sometimes with 'We are the first people in the tricts of Ganjam and Koraput— tears, on the days I spent in my country to observe the feeling of was governed from Madras. village before I was transported unity in the Indian Nation but Alien Administration to Cuttack for English education, we cannot sacrifice our own in­ I thought of the days when I was Bengalis had already a long ex­ terest.' loved, respected, and blessed as perience of British rule, and most the scion of an old family of Earlier in the year, in the middle of the officials who came to the Zemindars, I was reconciled to a of February, the Budget session of newly-annexed areas were Bengalis. life where contempt and insult the Orissa Legislative Assembly They were the administrators and would be my share ...' Madhu- opened with an address from the they became, as the leaders of the Sudan's Immortal Words.—Edited Governor of Orissa. The speech was Utkal Sammilani later called them by N Das. Kala Vigyan Parishad, received with a motion of thanks 'an intermediary ruling race.' Cuttack. 1958. P3.) from the House, to which Opposi­ Bengali was the language of the tion members tabled amendments. courts. The lawyers were Bengalis. 'Downright Robbery' Amon'g these amendments were two, The teachers were Bengalis. If an That was the position of Oriyas which I have selected from several Oriya wanted responsible employ- in the heartland of Orissa. The having different word's but the same ment in the Administration, he had Administration was manned by substance. These are: virtually to turn himself into a aliens. Oriya culture was despised. There were several attempts to have 'But regret to find that: (a) Bengali. There were no educational Bengali pronounced the language there is no mention of the Gov­ institutions in Orissa, using the of instruction in schools. There was ernment's failure to safeguard Oriya language, which could give even an attempt to prove that the interests of the people of him the necessary qualifications. Oriya was merely a dialect of Ben­ Orissa and particularly the Adi- It is ironical that the founder of gali, whereas, as Oriyas pointed basls in Rourkella and in the the Utkal Sammilani, Madhusudan out, just as good a case could be Dandakaranya scheme; (b) there Das, went to Calcutta for higher made out that Bengali was a cor­ is no mention of the failure of education, and to the end of his life, rupted dialect of Oriya. Government to take sincere and so one person told me, spoke on There were also more practical effective steps for the restoration informal occasions not 'chaste and of outlying Oriya tracts.' and immediate reasons why Oriyas elegant' Oriya, but Oriya with many disliked and feared the immigrant The Utkal Sammilani is an orga­ Bengali corruptions and admixtures. nization founded to look after the Bengalis. Many Oriyas lost their There is a fragment of autobio­ estates to Bengalis. The estates interests of Oriyas. It is the busi­ graphy by Madhusudan Das which ness of the Opposition to pick holes were sold to meet arrears of tax, illustrates the feelings of ambitious and the sale took place in Calcutta where it can, and one might be Oriyas (Das was born into a zemln- tempted to regard these amend­ often without the knowledge of the dari family) in the last two decades Oriya owners. ments as just another propaganda of the nineteenth century: point to be made on the floor of the 'In the second and third years House. But those quotations mean 'All the surroundings of my life after the extension of the Bengal more than this: time and again in my village were calculated to Regulations to Cuttack, estates Oriya 'nationalism' comes up as a develop pride.' paying a jumma of 4½ lakhs of cause for political action or an Then he was sent to the Govern- rupees out of a jumma of Rs explanation for political behaviour. ment Zilla School at Cuttack to 1,200,000 were sold at public auc­ It is a rallying cry, a moral impe­ obtain an English education. tion for arrears of revenue .... rative, in the name of which sacri­ 'My admission into the English The inadequate value at which fices are made and narrower per- School brought me into contact these lands were sold also im­ sonal or party or regional interests with Bengali boys and Bengali mensely aggravated the hardship are forgotten. It is, since 1947 and teachers ... I was the target. All of the measure, and has been the coming of Independence, the my Bengali class comrades ever­ termed by the Collector (in his most widespread and the strongest lastingly fired their volley of sar­ report) little better than down­ 'cause' in Orissa politics, casm and ridicule at me ... I had right robbery.' (quoted in The long hair which was tied at the Oriya Movement by 'Two Bache­ Whether such feelings are good or back. This my Bengali friends lors of Arts' Oriya Samaj. Gan­ bad is beside the point: they exist, considered a sign of my being a jam. 1919. P7.) and there is no understanding of girl not a boy, for in Bengal by If this was happening in the contemporary politics without tak­ that time short-cropped hair was heartland of Orissa, in the adminis­ ing provincial patriotism into ac­ in fashion. One day one of my trative division in which Oriyas count. 1331 September 26, 1959 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY were in the great majority, the same west Oriyas had to deal with Hindi- Hindi. A process, which is illus­ and worse was happening in those speaking officials: to the north trated by the Census returns for tracts where Oriyas were a mino­ there were large groups of Oriya- Midnapore district in Bengal, must rity in a larger linguistic group. speakers in the districts of what is have been going on in all the out- This was the case on all the land now West Bengal. lying Oriya tracts. The total of borders of Orissa. To the south In these areas the language and Oriya-speakers in Midnapore were the Ganjam Oriyas were adminis­ culture of the Oriyas were main­ returned thus: tered from Madras, and the officials tained with difficulty. Oriya chil­ who governed them were Telugu- dren were educated through the speakers: to the west and north- medium of Bengali or Telugu or THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY September 26, 1959

Census figures, on Issues like this, The long and persistent agitation is an area of 32,198 square miles are notoriously fallible, but whe­ of the Utkal Union Conference was and in 1941 it had a population of ther they indicate a true diminish­ met half-way by the uneasiness of 8,728,544. ing of Oriya-speakers, or whether the British administrators. This Saraikeila and Kharsawan they indicate falsification by enu­ uneasiness sprang partly from pangs merators, the figures were equally of conscience and from the know­ In the agitations which led up to disturbing to those who valued ledge that Oriyas in the outlying the formation of a separate pro­ Oriya culture and the Oriya lan­ tracts—in Madras and Bengal and vince in 1936, there were two main guage. other areas- did suffer severe dis­ aims: one was to safeguard the interests of the Oriyas in the exist­ The information on which I have advantages compared to those who ing Oriya division, by making it based this account is got from con­ spoke the same language as the possible for them to compete with versations with Oriyas and from Administrators. Oriyas were at the aliens on equal terms; the second publications of the Utkal Sammilani. 'tail-end' of the Administration in all was territorial, to bring Oriya- It is therefore likely to be biased. these provinces, and they suffered speaking tracts within the boun­ The sufferings of Oriyas and in consequence. Partly the British daries of the division, or, as it later the danger to their culture may were influenced by administrative became, the province. Both these have been exaggerated. But this, difficulties: senior officials had either issues are alive today. for our purpose, is beside the point. to stay in one area or to learn seve­ The history which is relevant to our ral languages. The existing provin­ In 1936, when the province was analysis is not fact—what actually ces were large and communications created, the main aims of the Utkal happened--but rather what Oriyas were poor. There was, for instance, Union Conference were accomplish­ today and in recent decades believe a belief that the horrors of the ed. Not that there was universal happened. History for our purpose 1866 famine could have been averted satisfaction: parts of Gun jam, the is history as the Oriyas see it now, had Orissa not been so far from whole of Singbhum and of Midnapore and believe it to have happened. the eyes of the Government in Cal­ and other areas to which the Union cutta. Movement had laid claim, were not The Union Movement included in the new province. Be­ There were many petitions and Formation of Orissa Province ginning from 1936 there is a steady memorials about these grievances As far back as 1875 memorials trickle of literature complaining of submitted to the Government in the had been submitted to the Bengal trickery, of the falsification of last two decades of the nineteenth Government to have all the Oriya census returns, of the use of double century, but a systematic campaign tracts united under one Administra­ standards to prevent Orissa from for the rights of Oriyas began only tion. At first the Utkal Sammilani getting all the territory demanded, in 1903, when the Utkal Union Con­ agitated, as a minimum aim, for the of bad faith in other ways, of ference was organized by Madhu- inclusion of all the Oriya areas victimization, and so forth. But by sudan Das. The president ton that within one province, either the Cen­ and large the Movement subsided occasion) was the Raja of Mayur- tral Provinces or Bengal, and they between 1936 and 1947, because it bhanj and the chairman of the were content to see this as a step had achieved its main aim and be­ reception committee was the Raja on the way to a separate Oriya cause the energies of that articu­ of Kanika. In the years following, province. Yet the first change was late class which had organized the Union Movement, were taken up by the Conference met annually, usual­ concerned not so much with bring­ the struggle for Independence, either ly under the presidentship of one of ing in the outlying tracts, but on one side or the other. But Oriya the Orissa Rajas. Branches were rather with relieving the Bengal nationalism came sharply to life organized throughout the Oriya- Government of some of its respon­ again in 1948. speaking area; paid propagandists sibilities. In 1911 Bihar and Orissa were formed into a separate pro­ ('missionaries') were employed; Merged with Bihar schools where Oriya children could vince. Sambalpur became part of be taught in their own language the Orissa section of the new pro­ From some aspects, as I have said in an earlier article, the strug­ were opened in such outlying tracts vince. gle to merge the Feudatory States as Singbhum, Oriya students tak­ Oriya agitation continued and with coastal Orissa was a struggle ing courses of higher education out­ there was a regular complaint that to preserve the importance, if not side Orissa were given grants. Me­ Bihar received first share of what the existence, of Orissa. But this morials were submitted to various was to be had, and Orissa got only was not 'Oriya Nationalism', There provincial administrations about the what was left. is a distinction to be drawn be­ Use of Oriya as a court language, tween the Oriya Movement proper, about the founding of an Oriya uni­ In 1936 Orissa became a separate and those movements in which the versity, about the teaching of Oriya province, after protracted negotia­ Congress took the lead. Neither in schools and universities, and, as tions in the course of which the side in the merger conflict saw this a main aim, about uniting all Oriya- Oriya leaders went to London to primarily as a struggle between speakers into a single administra­ argue their case. The outlying Oriyas and outsiders. It was an in­ tive unit. The Conference also in­ tracts to the south (parts of the ternal dispute between the forces terested itself in developing indus­ district of Ganjam and the Koraput of reaction and the progressives, or, tries, mostly cottage industries, and Agency in Madras) were taken into from the opposite point of view, in improved methods of agriculture. the new Orissa province, Orissa between stable conservatism and Madhusudan Das himself promoted then consisted of the following dis­ revolution: it was a dispute between tanning and silver filigree work in tricts: Cuttack, Puri, Balasore, Gan- Oriyas. Cuttack. jam, Koraput, and Sambalpur. This 1333 September 26, 1959 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY

But in 1948 a conflict broke out directed both against the Congress the Orissa State, but go outside. which is straight In the line of Ministry in Orissa and against the There is a popular distrust of the descent from the earlier struggles Union Government. There was a non-Oriya commercial classes—the of Oriya nationalism. In that year general strike. Shops were closed. Marwari businessmen and shop­ Mayurbhanj had not yet acceded to Transport was blocked. The agita­ keepers, for example. Orissa. Mayurbhanj lay between tors concentrated upon Union insti­ Projects under the control of the the new Orissa and two states tutions: the railways, the post offi­ Union Government are a particular which had once been within the ces, and the All India Radio. target for Oriya nationalists. They jurisdiction of the Political Agent Disorders continued for about a complain that Oriyas displaced by week. At Bhadrak the trains were for Orissa. These were Saraikella these projects are not properly held up for a week and the picket- and Kharsawan. First they were compensated, nor are their interests ers (mostly students) organized allotted to Orissa along with the looked after. Hirakud is a notori­ canteens to feed the stranded pas­ rest of the Feudatory States. But ous case and the results of the sengers. At Purl the railway sta­ When Oriya officials arrived to take elections in Sambalpur demonstrate tion was burned and the houses of over, they were met with demons­ the strength of feeling against the some officials attacked. The police trations of hostility, organised, so Orissa Congress, which in such opened fire and one person was it is alleged, not by the people of situations is identified with the killed. In Cuttack Union forces those states, but by interested out­ Union Government. I quoted above were flown in to protect Govern­ siders who wished the states to an amendment to the address of ment installations, and it was these accede to Bihar. It is not, fortu­ thanks to the Governor which rais­ forces, protecting the All India Ra­ nately, our business to Judge on ed just this issue, the interests of dio, which opened fire, wounded Whose side right lay, or who was local people being neglected by some members of the crowd, and responsible for the disorders: we Union concerns in Rourkella and killed a youth. He has since become have only to see what Oriyas be­ the Dandakaranya area. They a martyr, and his name was used lieve happened. also complain that local people are in the 1957 elections by parties op­ not given sufficient employment S R C Report Disappoints posed to the Congress. and that the benefits to be got Whatever the cause of the dis­ Public meetings were forbidden. from the new concerns, particularly orders, they were considerable. The But the leaders of the main Oppo­ during the period of construction, police opened fire and people were sition party courted arrest by defy­ go all to non-Oriyas. The presence killed. At the intervention of the ing the ban on meetings. Later of Union officials, who may not be Union Government it was decided they, and some members of other Oriyas, is also resented. Altogether, that the two states should join parties and Independents, resigned there is some evidence that a Bihar, until the question could be from the Assembly and the Parlia­ 'closed-shop' mentality exists from taken up again in more settled ment, in protest both against the the level of the politician and offi­ times. This decision was prompted decision of the States Reorganiza­ cial right down to the ordinary both by the disorders and by the tion Commission, and against the worker. Orissa, of course, is not fact that, until Mayurbhanj acceded, manner in which the disorders had unique in this. Orissa had no territorial boundary been suppressed. with Saraikella and Kharsawan. Nor is she unique in the com­ 'Closed Shop' Mayurbhanj joined Orissa in the plaint heard everywhere, that the Orissa now has its University, following year, but, so far as I can State gives too much to the Union and the greater number of people discover, the question of Saraikella and gets too little in return. This in regular administrative service and Kharsawan returning to Orissa complaint is so universal that we are Oriyas. There are still many did not come up again until the need not go into details. It would people of Bengali descent here, but States Reorganization Commission be surprising if it were not made. this issue is no longer alive. From in 1956. From my discussions with Whether or not such claims and time to time a domiciled Bengali Oriyas, both politicians and others, complaints are based upon accurate politician may have to put up with there seems to have been at first a information, and just what consti­ the gibes of his opponents, but few fair amount of confidence that tutes a 'fair' proportion of Oriyas of them have connections with Ben­ Saraikella and Kharsawan and in the employment of Union pro­ gal proper and most are solidly possibly some other outlying tracts jects In the State, are questions identified with Orissa. Nor is the would be given to Orissa. Some which cannot be answered here, for language issue any longer of im­ propaganda was carried on to they depend upon the ultimate portance, and it is significant that strengthen the Oriya cause, both in values held: the balancing of State I have heard no complaints about those two states and elsewhere. But interests against Union interests; the propagation of Hindi as the Saraikella and Kharsawan remained the demands of economic efficiency; national language on the grounds with Bihar. and so forth. What matters in this that the Oriya language thereby analysis is not the correctness or Resignation Expected suffers. error of the beliefs of Oriyas: but It was also generally believed But there are still some fields in rather the attitudes and actions that the Congress Ministry in which the 'Orissa for the Oriyas' which are founded on those beliefs. Orissa would resign if the two states feeling is strong. Oriyas complain Political Lessons Were not allotted to Orissa. But, that particular forms of business— presumably on the advice of the the kendu leaf contracts and the Up to 1936 Oriya Nationalism Union Government, the Orissa Con­ mines, for example—are in the advanced its claims largely through gress remained in office. Demon­ hands of outsiders: that sufficient diplomatic and constitutional means. strations erupted throughout Orissa, profits from them do not accrue to There was no resort to violence

1334 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY September 26, 1959 and no attempt to force the Gov­ and dislike felt for 'Katakis' by never have troubled himself about ernment's hand by 'direct action'. the people of the hills, and the atti­ those of his countrymen who had The strength of the movement rest­ tudes of superiority and disdain neither the ability nor the oppor­ ed on the moderation of the leaders which are sometimes evinced by tunity to do the same. Yet he and on their personal eminence. the coastal middle-class for those spent his life in fighting for Oriya They were respected by the British of the hills, correspond very neatly culture and the Oriya language. as sober and responsible spokesmen to what Oriyas were saying about Political Motivation of a worthwhile cause. Since In­ Bengalis fifty years ago and to We are here reaching after a dependence the movement has dis­ what Bengalis were saying about distinction in political motivation played much more the characteris­ Oriyas. which is not easy to make. At one tics of an agitation. Protests are But there is also a difference. end of the scale are narrow paro­ still made in the Assembly and the Oriya nationalism has had a posi­ chial loyalties, material interests, Utkal Sammilani still holds its an­ tive creative side, which the paro­ self-interest even: actions dictated nual meeting, but it was the dis­ chial loyalties of hill and coast by the needs of the belly. To be order of 1956 that revealed the have never had. From its very set against this outlook is action latent strength of Oriya National­ beginnings the Oriya Movement for an ideal or a principle, action ism. began to grow out of being a mere for the benefit of others. Action In the Utkal Union Movement attempt at grabbing more privi­ taken not in self-interest but in many of the political leaders of the leges for Orissa and maintaining a response to a moral imperative: Independence Movement and of the 'closed shop' for Oriyas. It is, I action from the heart. These are, present day had their first experi­ suppose, an accident of the English of course, conceptual distinctions. ence of politics. Under its auspices language current at the beginning Any particular single action, still they learnt to make popular con­ of this century that its workers more a complex series of actions, tact by carrying on educational were called 'missionaries': 'propa­ are likely to belong to both fields. and constructive, work. They learnt gandist' and 'agitator' were not in But even though it may be difficult how to work on committees and vogue at the time. But the word to categorize concrete actions, how to put pressure on the Govern­ 'missionary' neatly symbolizes the nevertheless the distincion is valid. ment. But in the Independence spirit of the Movement, especially There is all the difference in the Movement all these lessons were in its early days, and distinguishes world between the MLA who threa­ unlearned and the tactics of diplo­ it from the more mundane and tens to resign because his rival macy and quiet behind-the-scenes materialist ambitions revealed in has been made a Deputy Minister, pressures were laid aside. One the hill-coast rivalry. and the MLA who resigns because gentleman, answering my question, 'Missionary' Spirit he is in principle opposed to co­ said, 'Yes, I was in the Oriya operative farming or to the compul­ The 'missionary' spirit indicates Movement as a young man. But sory re-settlement of podua cultiva­ a willingness to sacrifice personal that was not real politics, of course: tors or because he wishes to protest interest and comfort, and self-de­ not the way we do things now...' against corruption and inefficiency. dication to a goal the attainment The lessons of political behaviour of which is regarded as a moral Oriya Nationalism comes between which have survived into Independ­ obligation. The people who went these two poles. On the one hand it ent India seem to be those learnt to Singbhum or to the other out­ appears as pure patriotism, in the from 1921 onwards, agitation of lying tracts and started schools name of which people make sacrifices one form or another, rather than where Oriya children could be for which they can derive no imme­ the patient diplomacy of the early taught in their mother-tongue did diate reward other than self-respect years of the Oriya Movement. so because they thought Oriya cul­ and the gratitude of their 'country. Creative Work ture and Oriya values and the Ori­ men'. From the other side, getting ya language things of value in jobs in the administration, or secur­ Superficially the Oriya Movement themselves. ing a share in the Union-managed is the hill-coast cleavage writ large: industries and projects, Oriya Na­ at first sight it appears to fall into At first sight one might conclude tionalism appears as xenophobic the same structural category and that this was simply an extension self-interest. It stands mid-way to bear many superficial resembl­ by a few idealists of a movement to between the abstract goals of social ances. There is the same conflict secure appointments in the services reform or Independence, and, on the of loyalties: in the first case be­ and opportunities in the professions other side, narrow personnal or pa­ tween either the hill or the coastal for the Oriya middle-classes. No rochial or communal interests. divisions and the Orissa State, and doubt the difficulties which these in the second Orissa itself on the same middle-classes experienced in Not Sell-Interest but 'Patriotism' one side and the Indian Union on competition with the Bengalis ini­ In an analysis which seeks to be the other side, standing for all the tiated the campaign. But their scientific, moral imperatives are a neighbouring States with which motives cannot be written off as nuisance. Self-interest is tangible Orissa is in dispute. If the hill dis­ mere self-interest, for the same aim almost capable of being measured. tricts now complain sometimes that could more easily have been achiev­ If it can be shown that Sri X, by do­ they are at the tall-end of the Ad­ ed, if they were concerned with ing action A, would have lost three ministration, or that they do not their own interests alone, by adop­ lakhs of rupees, and would have get their fair share of the benefits ting Bengali culture and the Ben­ gained a contract worth five lakhs of Government, that is exactly what gali language. The prime mover by doing action B. which he did, Oriya patriots have been saying of the whole campaign, Madhusu- then we feel that we have satisfac­ for the last seventy or more years dan Das, had, so to speak, qualified torily accounted for his choice, what­ about Orissa. Equally the suspicion himself as a Bengali, and need ever he has to say in the matter.

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September 26, 1959 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY

There is a temptation to be cynical their energies towards its own goal. work within the framework of the and to look for an interested motive: The present political leaders, par­ Congress for the achievement of indeed, it is a good maxim for ticularly of the Congress, make Independence, but they did so with research to distrust high professions constant use of this device, and reservations, and from time to time, and to look for material interests. any group, even one formed for when Congress unity was weak and artistic or entirely non-political its aims uncertain, they broke away But one does not always find them. purposes, usually finds itself enjoy­ from it. The non-Congress Minis­ I have discussed the 1956 rioting ing the patronage of a politician try which had a short spell of life with politicians and people outside or a political party. in 1936, and the longer Coalition politics; those who belong to the This was not the case in the Ministry which was in office during Congress say that the agitation was early relations of the Congress and the war years, were composed large­ whipped up by the Opposition par­ the Oriya Movement. There was ly of men whose public life had ties and used to discredit the Con­ in those days a dearth of articulate been dedicated to the cause of Ori­ gress: they discount the moral im­ and public-spirited middle class ya Nationalism. Finally, when perative and look only to material­ people, and those who did interest Independence was achieved, most of istic motives. Other people insisted themselves in public affairs were the people in this category either that the agitation was spontaneous, jack—of-all-trades. The leaders of retired from politics, or remained and not fomented by any party, al­ the Oriya Movement were interest­ as opponents of the Congress party. though the Opposition parties may ed in social reform and economic Protest Votes have exploited these issues after­ betterment, and this was part of The Congress party has taken wards. While agreeing that nothing the Movement's programme. But in the strain of this conflict of loyal­ seems to be easier than to whip up addition to this the same persons ties to Orissa and to the Union. a riot in the towns (twelve people were leaders in other movements. The Orissa Congress has two mas­ went to hospital and twenty-two The leaders of social reform move­ were arrested in Bengal recently ters: its own Oriya electorate and ments were also protagonists in after a dispute which broke out over the All India Party. Theoretically the Oriya Movement. From among the purchase of two bananas ), one the other two All-India parties their number, also, came the men is nevertheless reluctant to believe working in Orissa, the Praja So­ who introduced the Congress into that self-interest can be the whole cialists and the Communists, are in Orissa. story. Why should the students of the same dilemma, but not being Cuttack worry themselves over Sarai- 'Divide and Rule'? in office they can more freely kella and Kharsawan, which few of But quite soon the structural speak up for the rights of Orissa. them can have visited and many situation forced a division. About The Ganatantra, a State party, and must never have heard of before social reform there was no parti­ the Independents have no diflicul- 1948? Why should relatively highly cular difficulty for it was consist­ ies, since they do not have to mea­ qualified middle-class Oriyas from ent with—or at least not opposed sure the effect of their actions upon the coastal districts take low-paid to—either Oriya Nationalism or the party members in other States, or jobs teaching small boys to read Independence Movement, which was to calculate whether their actions and write Oriya beyond the borders Indian Nationalism. But between will damange the unity of the party of Orissa? The answer lies not in the two latter there is a funda­ at a national level. self-interest but in 'patriotism'. mental incompatibility, and the last When Saraikella and Kharsawan sixty years have shown that when first went to Bihar in 1948, people I labour this point, perhaps, but the one waxed the other waned. said that the Orissa Congress lead­ it is necessary to make it strongly Some Oriyas came down definitely ers were weak in the face of cen­ here, when first we meet it, It is on the one side or the other. The tral pressure, and naive in their easy to lose sight of the idealistic founder of the Utkal Sammilani, failure to counter the manoeuvres element in politics—Oriya Nation­ although later enrolled in the Con­ and intrigues of the Congress par­ alism, social reform, independence gress, resisted attempts to gather ties in other States. In 1956 the in the welter of narrow sectional his organization into the Congress failure of the Orissa Congress gov­ interests. fold. Furthermore the Raj families ernment to resign in protest against Difficulties of Congress and the bigger Zemindars, who against the award of the States were opposed to the Congress and Reorganization Commission, after The cleavage between Oriya, Na­ who suffered at its hands, having the general expectation that they tionalism and Indian Nationalism devoted their political energies to would make this gesture, and the has never been as clear and sharp the Utkal Sammilani, naturally subsequent firings, did consider- as the cleavage between the hill resisted attempts to have it incor­ able damage to the party's prestige and the coastal divisions within porated in the Congress. In 1936 in Orissa. In the elections the fol­ Orissa. To understand this one the Utkal Union Conference at lowing year there were large pro­ has to follow the intricate and Puri passed a resolution expressing test votes against the Congress in changing relationship between the their loyalty to the crown. There­ the coastal area. In the Chief Oriya Movement on the one side upon the Congress denounced the Minister's own constituency, a and the Congress Movement on Oriya Movement as a British de­ Ganatantra candidate polled over the other. vice to 'divide and rule'. 19,000 votes in an area where the Ganatantra at that time had vir­ One way in which a political The Congress hostility to the tually no organization and no fol­ movement grows is by winning over cause of Oriya Nationalism cost it lowing: these can only have been existing congregations, formed for the whole-hearted support of a sec­ votes in protest against what had some other purpose and with some tion of the Oriya middle-classes. been done in 1956. A candidate other aim in mind, and turning Many of these people continued to 1837 September 26, 1950 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY

who stood as an Independent told were taken away. During the de­ to think of their 'own interest' as me that one reason why he had bate in the House of Lords on the coincident with the boundaries of defeated an old and respected Con­ Government of India Bill in 1911, the State and not of the Nation. gress leader was that he had been when Bihar and Orissa was made a The measure of Indian national imprisoned for his part in the 1956 separate province, Lord Curzon unity is firstly the weakness of lo­ agitations, and it was generally said, 'The interests of the Oriyas yalty to the different States, and believed that his Congress opponent, have been sacrificed without com­ secondly the strength of affiliations who at that time was the ML A, punction ... because the Oriyas are to other categories or groups which was concerned in his arrest. This a non-agitating people'. It seems cut across the regional divisions, same candidate issued a pamphlet as if in 1956 the Oriyas were de­ whether these are organized class- with a photograph on the cover of termined to prove that this was interests, or party loyalties, or a youth who had been killed in the now no longer the case. professional associations. police firing in 1956 and the caption Nor is the position of the Con­ Conflict within the smaller group 'Why you should give me your vote'. gress Party in Orissa made any is the price to be paid for unity in Conflicting Loyalties easier by the fact that the Utkal the larger. Few of the staunch But the difficulties of the Con­ Congress before Independence in­ Oriya nationalists with whom I gress are not to be attributed only cluded areas which now belong, have talked would admit this: they to their 'want of strength in face to other States. say that all Indians are brothers, of the Centre', nor to the baser There is no way out of this di­ and that feelings of brothers are motives which are sometimes sug­ lemma, except by the sacrifice of not lessened because they live se­ gested as explanations for their one or the other interest. 'We are parately. Perhaps not: Oriya Na­ behaviour in 1956. The point is the first people in the country to tionalism is in no way incompati­ that they are faced, in a very acute observe the feeling of unity in the ble with feelings of national soli­ form, with the politician's dilemma: Indian nation, but we cannot sa­ darity, when the occasion is appro­ his loyalties upwards and to the crifice our own interests-..' priate for them: it does not stand wider group in this case India as in the way of what Durkheim call­ State and Nation ed 'mechanical solidarity'—the as­ a nation—conflict inevitably with So long as the great majority his loyalties downwards, in this sociating together of like but self- even of the middle and professional case to the State. contained units. But it is the classes live out their lives in the negation of organic solidarity, The conflict is particularly acute one State, and so long as jobs in where no unit is self-contained but in Orissa for the various reasons that State go for preference to its all overlap and are interdependent, upon which I have already touched. natives, then people will continue and are therefore inseparable. Oriya patriotism finds a ready symbol and inspiration in the Purl shrine, in the glories of ancient Orissa, and in the language. Many years of struggle underlie it, and the sense of unity is enhanced by the conviction that all outsiders are hostile, and that Orissa has had to fight for its existence, and still must do so to make up the leeway between itself and other States with a more fortunate history. With this history behind them Oriyas are not thick-skinned. Gossip and rumours, particularly of adverse opinions on Orissa, fall upon sensitive ears. A distinguish­ ed Indian leader is said to have described Oriyas during the 1956 troubles as 'Goondas' (hooligans). 'Would he have dared to say that about Andhras?', one man said. Another distinguished person is alleged to have sent a telegram of congratulation to Mayurbhanj, when it refused to join Orissa along with other Feudatory States in 1948. It is also said that when the States Reorganization Com­ mission in 1956 decided to leave Saraikella and Kharsawan with Bihar, they did so because they thought 'there would be no trouble', while presumably Biharis would make trouble if those two states