Kendrapara: Although it is almost 13 years since a park at Jagulaipada and a road from Singhpur to Jagulaipada, named after Raghu Nayak, were approved, the projects are yet to take off.
Raghu Nayak was Mahatma Gandhi’s assistant. He grappled with Nathuram Godse after he fired bullets at Gandhi January 30, 1948 and overpowered him.
The failure of the authorities to execute the projects to honour Raghu Nayak is brewing bitterness among locals against the state government and the Centre.
Locals alleged that due to the lackadaisical attitude of the administration the projects have made no headway.
In 2005, the state culture department had directed the then Kendrapara District Magistrate to submit details about the estimated cost for putting up a statue of Raghu Nayak, constructing a park in his village and also a road from Singhpur to Jagulaipada to honour the son of the soil.
Later, the district administration asked the executive engineer of R&B department to submit a detailed report on the projects. The engineer gave a report that the project would cost about Rs 15 lakh 13 years back. This was later sent to the culture department.
“A foreign company realised the importance of the heroic act of Raghu and came forward to honour him, but the nation has not done anything to recognize Raghu,” the Gandhi-Raghu Smruti Committee members said.
Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violence and his struggle to liberate India from colonialism, and to honour Raghu Nayak, German company Daimler Chrysler installed a joint fibre statue of Raghu Nayak and Gandhi.
On Martyrs’ Day in 2005, the company installed the joint fibre statue at Jagulaipada.
Mandodari Nayak, the widow of Raghu Nayak said, “My husband attended to Gandhiji’s garden, served him goat milk and was also responsible for maintenance of his room.”
Basanti, the daughter of Raghu Nayak, still has a note dating back to 1.2.1955 when President Rajendra Prasad acknowledged Nayak’s courage in chasing the pistol-wielding Godse and overpowering him risking his life. Dr Rajendra Prasad had also given Raghu Nayak a prize money of Rs 500.
Only two biographies of Mahatma Gandhi, – ‘Mahatma Gandhi: The Last Phase’ by Pyarelal Nayyar and ‘Let’s Kill Gandhi’ by Tushar A. Gandhi – took note of Nayak’s courageous act.
Though the district administration had in 2005 sent a cost estimate for the proposed projects to the culture department there was no further communication from the department regarding Raghu Nayak’s statue, construction of the memorial park and the road in his name, said Subhranshu Sutar, secretary of the Raghu-Gandhi Smruti Committee of Jagulaipada.
It is unfortunate that senior officials of the district administration have never come to Jagulaipada on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti or Martyrs’ Day to pay their tributes, he added.
PNN
