Laxman Nayak

Infobox Person
name = Laxman Nayak


image_size =
caption =
birth_date = birth date|1899|11|22|df=y
birth_place = Tentuligumma, Malkangiri, Orissa, India
death_date = death date and age|1943|3|29|1899|11|22|df=y
death_place = Berhampur Jail, Orissa, India

Laxman Nayak or Laxman Naik (November 22, 1899 – March 29, 1943) was the most prominent civil rights activist of South Orissa in eastern India.

Laxman Nayak, an Oriya folk-hero of Malkangiri of southernmost part of Orissa 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 puppet of the British Government. The tribals under their administration were treated like children of a lesser God and where subjected to inhuman torture and treated poorly by petty revenue officials, forest guides and police constables. Laxman Nayak organised the rebels successfully against exploitation by the officials of Jeypore Samasthanam and its British masters. This brought him recognition as a potential tribal leader and the National Congress admitted Laxman Nayak into its fold. During the course of his training in Naupuri training centre for Congress workers, Laxman Nayak had the opportunity to meet and interact with several Zonal and State level leaders which enabled him to broaden his horizons. 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 of mission in the Congress campaign in the Malkangiri Sub-division during the first ever election in 1936.

However, greater things were in store for him. Responding to the call of Mahatma Gandhi, Laxman Nayak led a procession on August 21, 1942 and demonstrated peacefully in front of Mathili Police Station. The police however fired at the demonstrators indiscriminately, which claimed forty lives and more than two hundred were injured. The administration further falsely implicated Laxman Nayak in a case of murder and the death sentence was pronounced on him on November 13, 1942. He was hanged on March 29, 1943 in Berhampur Jail.

Nayak in Oriya means chief of a tribe, a leader and a hero. Laxman Nayak was all these and much more.

Text Courtesy: Government of Orissa