Odisha paid tributes to Utkal Gourav Madhusudan Das on his birth anniversary on Sunday. Various programmes were organised to celebrate his birth anniversary across the state. Eminent personalities, leaders and people from all walks of life paid rich tributes to Odisha's first lawyer.
Taking to his X handle, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said, "I pay my deep tributes to Utkal Gourav Madhusudan Das on his birth anniversary. His immense contribution towards the formation of a separate Odisha state, protection of Odisha's pride, industries, education and literature will be remembered for all the time to come."
National Vice President of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Baijayant Panda paid tributes to Utkal Gourav on his birth anniversary.
On his x handle, he wrote, “I pay my tributes to Utkal Gourav Madhusudan Das, a great freedom fighter, an ardent lover of Odia pride, an architect of modern Odisha, a social reformer, a great litterateur, eminent lawyer, Odisha's first lawyer and graduate, a symbol of Odisha's pride and Swabhiman, on his birth anniversary.”
Lovingly called Madhu Babu, he played a key role in the creation of a separate Odisha province on the basis of language. He was the first barrister of Odisha and earned a name as a great legal luminary inside the country and abroad.
Madhu Babu was born on April 28, 1848, at Satyabhamapur in Cuttack. He was a great freedom fighter and a pioneer of the Odia language movement. He struggled for the unification of Odia-speaking tracts. With his efforts, Odisha became a separate province and the first state of the country on the basis of its language on April 1, 1936.
To ensure livelihood for cobblers, he set up Utkal Tannery. Besides, he established Utkal Art Works to promote gold and silver jewellery.