Laxman Nayak

Born: 22 November 1899

Died: 29 March 1943

• He was a tribal civil rights activist of South Odisha in eastern India.
• He belonged to the Bhuyan tribe of Odisha.
• He, an Odia folk-hero of Koraput of the southernmost part of Odisha and a cult-figure among its tribals, was born in Tentuliguma village of the Koraput district and his father Padlam Nayak was a tribal chief and ‘Mustadaar’ under ‘Jeypore Samasthanam’ in the then Madras Presidency.
• The local administration worked as a subsidiary of the British Government.
• The tribals under their administration were treated badly by revenue officials, forest guides and police constables, and were subjected to torture.
• He organized the rebels successfully against exploitation by the officials of Jeypore Samasthanam.
• This brought him recognition as a potential tribal leader and the National Congress admitted Nayak into its fold.
• His training inculcated in him a spirit for Nationalism and indoctrinated him with the Gandhian principles of truth, nonviolence and peaceful non-cooperation with the British Government.
• He carried a charkha, with the message of adult education and abstinence from alcohol to every tribal household of his area and brought about a total change in the rural scenario.
• He became the mission in the Congress campaign in the Koraput Sub-division during the first-ever election in 1936.

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