By Hemant Kumar Rout, IANS
Chasakhand (Orissa) : A group of 10 freedom fighters Monday came from West Bengal to Chasakhand, a sleepy village in Orissa’s Balasore district that sees a flurry of activity every year Sep 10 – the death anniversary of freedom fighter Baghajatin and his four companions.
The place wears a festive look and thousands pay tribute to the revolutionaries on this day. And politicians give speeches, promising that Chasakhand would soon be developed into a tourist site.
But all turn hollow once the day is over and what remains is the ruined memorial of the martyrs. Baghajatin, popularly known as Bengal Tiger, fell to British bullets on Sep 10, 1915, after his four-man army team waged a courageous battle at Chasakhand.
But unlike other memorials, this place bears unique significance as a group of freedom fighters from West Bengal come here every year to pay tribute to the forgotten hero.
This year too a group of 10 freedom fighters came to pay their respects. “Chasakhand is a holy place for all Indians. We have been coming here since 1965. Earlier over 150 freedom fighters used to come but most of them have died now,” Hiralal Das Roy, a freedom fighter and secretary of Balasore Atma Utsarga Smarak Samiti, Kolkata, told IANS.
“What the Orissa government should do for the martyr is yet to be done,” he lamented.
Born as Jatindranath Mukherjee on Dec 7, 1989 in Koya village of Kustia district of undivided Bengal, the revolutionary was known to have fought the British tooth and nail. And finally sacrificed his life for the country. He continues to be an undying link between West Bengal and Orissa.
During the freedom struggle, Baghajatin and four of his aides were one day waiting for a huge consignment of arms comprising 100,000 rifles and 6,000 pistols to arrive at Balasore coast for an armed rebellion. The consignment never arrived and they were chased by a police team headed by Charles A Teggart.
They entered Balasore but their hideout was soon raided by the police. While one died instantly in the encounter that followed, two were hanged and the fourth was jailed. Baghajatin was critically wounded and soon succumbed to injuries in a hospital.
Barring their death anniversary, no official visits Chasakhand and not much has been done for the upkeep of the martyrs’ memorial and the park named after the freedom fighter.
“Unfortunately, the state government is yet to declare it a place of tourist attraction. But we have spent around Rs.1 million so far for improving the place,” Maguni Charan Dash, secretary of Baghajatin Bikash Parisad, told IANS.
“My goal is to make it a major tourist destination of Orissa. I have requested many ministers but no one has given priority to it. The place desperately need good road connectivity,” he rued.
The Balasore district administration, however, claims it is doing whatever it can for the development of the place.
“Local people have for long demanded that it be declared a tourist spot. But what the district administration can do? With a meagre amount of Rs.2,000, we can only arrange a meeting and observe his death anniversary. But this place has been featured in the tourist brochure of Balasore,” said Balasore Collector Alekh Chandra Padhiary.