Gopabandhu Das

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Shreeram Chandra Dash (1919-1996) was an eloquent speaker and powerful writer. He held a doctorate degree from the University of West Berlin.

He got the Sahitya Akademi Award for the book Europare Mo Anubhuti (My Europe Journey).

During his lifetime, Sreeram Chandra Dash wrote over 5000 articles and many books.

Gopabandhu Das (1877-1928), also known as Utkalmani or Jewel of Utkal (now Odisha), was a political activist, social worker, journalist, reformer and poet. He had the honour of serving the Indian National Congress in Odisha as its first President. He held this post from 1921 to 1928. He devoted his entire life to tackling the vast social and economic issues that faced the state and country. Gopabandhu, died young at the age of 51, in 1928, but he lives in the heart of every Odia.

Gopabandhu Das was born in a simple orthodox Brahmin family in a village almost on the shores of the Bay of Bengal in the present State of Orissa (now Odisha). His contribution to the creation of a separate province which was born eight years after his death was indeed remarkable. After he succeeded in forging the political entity of Orissa in the annual session of the Indian National Congress in Nagpur in 1920, he linked the narrow stream of provincialism with the mighty current of Indian nationalism, formed the Orissa Provincial Congress Committee and spearheaded the freedom movement in his State. He is thus the father of the Indian National Congress in Orissa, and as a close associate of Mahatama Gandhi and Lala Lajpat Rai, stands at par with other pioneers in different provinces of India. He has not so far received recognition in the country after independence because he died young, at the age of fifty-one in 1928 and because, as he said in a letter to Lalaji, "You say that the record of my activities should be published in the newspapers but it is not my nature to seek publicity. I have absolutely no desire to earn name and fame in the country. I am ever ready to do whatever work and render whatever service I can do to the best of my ability. What does it matter if people don't know it? I regard myself as a life-long servant of the people and with God overhead, I have served my people according to my own lights". People know about him all right and he lives in every Oriya heart. The only official recognition given to him so far was the issue of a commemorative postage stamp in January 1964 on the occasion of the annual session of the Indian National Congress at Bhubaneswar where the township was also named Gopabandhu Nagar. The Oriyas are, therefore, happy that the National Book Trust, India decided to publish his biography.