Bhubaneswar: Freedom fighter and social worker Baidehi Panda died Tuesday. She was 86. Her body was donated to the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack the same day.
Baidehi was born at Kata Sahi in Bhadrak district in 1932. She was married off at the age of seven and became a widow at the age of nine.
Too young to understand the situation, she had asked her family why they were crying. When one of her brothers told her that she had become a widow, it did not make any sense to her.
Around that time the ‘Kasturba Gandhi Memorial Trust’ was started under the leadership of freedom fighter Rama Devi. An ashram of this trust was opened at Ramachandrapur in Bari.
Baidehi’s elder brother Muralidhara took her to the ashram to meet Rama Devi. “Maa, please keep my sister with you. From today she has become your daughter,” said Muralidhar to Rama Devi.
After coming to know about Baidehi’s background Rama Devi said, “From now Baidehi will be the daughter of Kasturba. One day, she will be mother of hundreds of children.”
Rama Devi’s prediction came true. Baidehi joined the freedom struggle at a very young age. She met Mahatma Gandhi and other freedom fighters and was inspired by them.
She actively participated in the Bhoodan movement, launched by Acharya Vinoba Bhave in 1951.
In 1955, Vinoba Bhave came to Odisha for a padyatra and Baidehi was selected to guide him. Vinoba Bhave lovingly called her ‘Kalinga Kanya’. She walked around 30,000 km across the country with Vinoba Bhave.
Baidehi also played a part in persuading the dacoits of Chambal valley to surrender.
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