By the early 20th century, several Odia dailies had successfully made their presence felt in Odisha. The Odia print media reverberated two major concerns. Struggle for the unification of Odia speaking tracts was achieved in 1936, with Odisha becoming a separate province. Second, discourses on a distinct evolved Odia language. The first-generation nationalists etched out an idea of a nation based on “othering” for certain dominant neighbouring nationalities like the Bengalis. During this time, the major concern of the print media was to spread a language-based identity amidst the Odia speaking tracts and the colonial rulers.
Interestingly, to run these newspapers and magazines, the first-generation intelligentsia depended on the feudal rulers and zamindars, mostly British loyalists. These local rulers had liaisoned with this influential intelligentsia to suppress the local unrests against them. [i] The media of the first generation could not take an explicit anti-colonial stance. Nor it could represent the needs of the masses. They had a narrow understanding of the idea of a nation. Thus, incorporation of the ideals of the Indian National Congress was not acceptable to them. This generation had leaders like Madhusudan Das.
By the early 20th century, the anti-colonial wave gained momentum with the prominence of second-generation nationalists. They could welcome the currents of Indian nationalism and adapt its goals. In Odisha, Odia nationalism preceded Indian nationalism. A conflict persisted between two groups of nationalists. The first group led by Madhusudan Das represented Odia nationalism.
In contrast, the second group talked about Indian nationalism guided by Gopabandhu Das and followed many a youngster, including Hare Krushna Mahab. Mahtab went on to become the first chief minister of Odisha. He was born in 1899 at the fag end of a millennium, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that he shaped the next century that followed in Odisha.
Media is always a powerful instrument in the hands of politicians. Odisha always had a history of politics-media nexus. I would cite here only the names of the chief ministers and their affiliated print media. Apart from Mahtab, J.B. Patnaik, Nilamoni Routrary were associated with Prajatantra. Biju Patnaik Published Kalinga from Cuttack, Biren Mitra with Janasakti, Nandini Sathpathy with Dharitri and J.B. Patnaik with Sambad after the 1980s. [ii] The list would be too exhaustive if I take a count of other politicians and different forms of media ownership by them. But Mahatab had the unique combination of being a journalist-politician.
From a very early age, he had realized the power of words. In the hostel mess, he and Nabakrushna Choudhury would pick up discussions and debates on issues of national relevance. They started a handwritten monthly in Odia named Malay along with an English journal named Dustbin. [iii] In 1921, Mahtab brought out a weekly journal named Prajatantra that had created history in Odia media. Prajatantra means the rule of the people. It propagated Gandhian ideas and methods throughout Odisha, especially in all Congress Ashrams across the province. He took a strong stance against the Zamindars and Kings of the Princely states. In 1923, he felt the need to convert it into a daily that could voice his concerns for the peasants and the poor. He used it against the tyrannies of the princely states like the Kanika Raja and the Nilgiri Raja, and it became his mouthpiece against the colonial state.
During the civil disobedience movement, Prajantantra took up the issues like the Salt Satyagraha at Inchudi in Balasore. [iii] It became the voice of the Congress till the British colonial state banned it in 1932. The Samaja, founded in 1919 by Gopanbandhu Das, would equally cater to the needs of the nationalist struggle had a mass appeal. It was so popular that Samaja had become synonymous with the term newspaper in Odisha, and the people would refer to English newspaper as Angrezi Samaja. No doubt, both Prajatantra and Samaja had established themselves to create a public sphere in Habermas’s term.
The public sphere is the arena of public debate in which issues of general concern can be discussed and opinions formed, which is necessary for effective democratic participation and oils the wheels of the democratic process. [iv]
The Congress in Odisha, with the increasing reputation of these newspapers, had started dominating this public sphere with the Thompson’s symbolic power exhibited in ideologies based on values of freedom, justice and removal of all forms of exploitations. [v] Since creating public opinion was a prerequisite for gaining legitimacy, the British would set one newspaper against another. Biswanath Kar went for an Odia weekly from Cuttack in the 1930s called Satya Samachar. [vi] It was anti-congress and had opposed the Salt Satyagraha and a critique of Gandhian ways. It is said that it was an attempt to drift public opinion against the Indian National Congress. Thus a platform was being set contesting ideologies taking the shape of a Counterpublics. [vii] However, the weekly had to shut down.
In 1947, Mahtab became the first chief minister of Odisha. He had always dreamt of a prosperous, economically strong Odisha. He strongly believed that only agriculture could not sustain the issues of poverty and unemployment in Odisha. He is mostly remembered for heralding the modern era in Odisha. His major contributions were the amalgamation of the province’s princely states, the creation of Bhubaneswar as Capital city, establishing industries, and the ‘Hirakud’ multipurpose dam project. By 1946, the ‘Hirakud anti-dam protest movement’ had geared up. This gave an opportune moment for the leaders of Princely States to organize themselves against Congress as the former never wanted to merge with Odisha province. Besides, the Hydroelectric power plant at ‘Duduma falls’ on Machkund River in Korapaput, and the Central Rice Research Institute at Choudwar invited resistance among the people. [viii]
This had created a conducive environment to push forth the idea of Western Odisha being made a scapegoat for the benefit of coastal Odisha with their Kataki Sarkar and kataki leader. The term Kataki has been derived from the old capital city of Odisha, Cuttack that represented coastal Odisha. Mahtab felt the need to resume his old mouthpiece, the Prajantantra, again in 1947. The massive protests against Hirakud were brutally suppressed with arrests. These issues never made it to the dailies, and even if they did, it was given the flavour of Western Odisha versus Coastal Odisha issue. [ix] Prajantantra slowly became the voice of Mahtab’s design of modern Odisha. The same newspaper that used to brings issues of suppression and atrocities on the part of the colonial state had become now an instrument in the hands of the state. In fact, chief ministers of Odisha like J.B. Patnaik, Nilamani Routray, and Biju Patnaik who followed Mahtab in the incumbency chart were protégés of Prajatantra.
Mahtab always knew the importance of the public sphere in any power tussle. This became evident in the column Gaon Majlis. It means Village Community sittings. Mahtab wrote, “This column is drafted as if the writer himself is sitting and discussing the issue with common people of the villages.” [iii] He would explain in his own words the rationale behind every political decision he took, or any issue, be it any national or international relevance, he would create a public opinion in simple, lucid language so that an illiterate villager may comprehend them. Thompson would refer to it as mediated quasi-interaction. [x] Mostly because it was monological in nature.
This column was withdrawn during the emergency when Mahtab was arrested. However, it resumed in 1976 again after his release. It was permanently withdrawn in 1986 when Mahtab was not able to contribute just before his death in 1987. Gaon Majlis as a public sphere was his creation, so the monologue came to an end.
References:
[i] Acharya, P. (2008). The National Movement and Politics in Orissa, 1920-29. New Delhi: Sage Publications.
[ii] Jeffrey, R. (1997). Oriya: ‘Identifying… with Newspapers’. Economic and Political Weekly, 32 (11): 511-514.
[iii] Das, M.N. and Nanda, C.P. (2001). Harekrushna Mahatab. New Delhi: Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India.
[iv] Giddens, A. (2009). Sociology. 6th Edition. New Delhi: Polity Wiley India P. Ltd.
[v] Thompson, J.B. (1990). Ideology and Modern Culture. Cambridge: Polity Press.
[vi] Chatterjee, M. (2013). History of Journalism in Odisha. Dhenkanal: Sephali Communications.
[vii] Dawson, M. (1994). A Black Counterpublic? Economic Earthquakes, Racial Agendas, and Black Politics. Public Culture 7: 195-223.
[viii] Kar, S. (2012). Harekrushna Mahatab. New Delhi: National Book Trust.
[ix] Pattnaik, S. (2014). Who Does the Media Serve in Odisha? Economic and Political Weekly. 49(14): 74-81.
[x] Thompson, J.B. (1995). The Media and Modernity: A Social Theory of Media. Cambridge: Polity Press.
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Tanaya Mohanty is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar.
Link to part I can be found here.