A tribute of Fakir Mohan Senapati - A Statesman ahead of his times

Asaram Bapu and sundry charlatans remind me of a short story by the eminent Odia statesman and educationist Fakir Mohan Senapati.  It's name is DHULIA BABA( the Sand Shrouded Saint). In that epic story the writer has exposed the duplicacy of a BHANDA(fake) Baba.  Fakir Mohan Senapati  was way ahead of his times. He was a writer, patriot and a shrewd strategist rolled into one who fought for Odia language which was on the verge of extinction at that time. Had he not been there in all probability Bengali would have taken over Odia as the medium of teaching in the state where Odia is the mother tongue of the most. Many eminent Bengalis at the helm of affairs those days living in Cuttack erroneously proclaimed that ODIA EKTAA SWATANTRA VASA NAYE, translated from Bengali it means Odia is not an independent language. Fakir Mohan fought tooth and nail against this wrong notion. He started an Odia printing press and publishing books in our native language. Odia survived. Sad that the name of such a great statesman of stature now languishing in the dustbins of history, restricted only to the Government College in Balasore, Orissa named after him. Hardly anyone remembers him these days. Hats off and my thousands of salute to the man for his service to the state of Odisa.