Harekrushna Mahatab (born Harekrushna Das, 21 November 1899 – 2 January 1987) was the leader of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

, a notable figure in the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...

and the Chief Minister of

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

from 1946 to 1950 and from 1956 to 1961. He was popularly known by the sobriquet "Utkal Keshari".

Early life

Harekrushna Mahtab was born at Agarpada village in

Bhadrak district Bhadrak is a district of Odisha state in eastern India. Bhadrak city is the headquarters and the largest city of the district. Origin of name The district is named after Bhadrakali, a deity in Hinduism, whose temple is situated on bank of Sa ...

to Krushna Charan Das and Tohapha Debi in an aristocratic

Kshatriya Kshatriya () (from Sanskrit ''kṣatra'', "rule, authority"; also called Rajanya) is one of the four varnas (social orders) of Hindu society and is associated with the warrior aristocracy. The Sanskrit term ''kṣatriyaḥ'' is used in the con ...

family. He was adopted by his maternal grandfather Jaganath Mahtab, a zamindar of Agarpada. After passing his matriculation examination from Bhadrak High School, he joined

Ravenshaw College Ravenshaw University, formerly known as Ravenshaw College, is a co-educational state university situated in Cuttack, Odisha on the eastern coast of India. Founded as Ravenshaw College in 1868, the institution became a university in 2006. The u ...

Cuttack Cuttack (, or officially Kataka in Odia language, Odia ), is the former capital, deputy capital and the 2nd largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. It is also the headquarters of the Cuttack district. The name of the city is an anglicised f ...

but left his studies in 1921 to join the independence movement.

Political career

In 1922, Mahatab was imprisoned and charged with sedition. He was the Chairman of Balasore District Board from 1924 to 1928. He became a member of Bihar and Odisha Council in 1924. He joined the

Salt Satyagraha The Salt march, also known as the Salt Satyagraha, Dandi March, and the Dandi Satyagraha, was an act of non violent civil disobedience in colonial India, led by Mahatma Gandhi. The 24-day march lasted from 12 March 1930 to 6 April 1930 as a di ...

movement and was imprisoned again in 1930. He was elected as the General Officer Commanding of Congress Sevadal for the

AICC The Akaike information criterion (AIC) is an estimator of prediction error and thereby relative quality of statistical models for a given set of data. Given a collection of models for the data, AIC estimates the quality of each model, relative to e ...

session at Puri in 1932 and he was arrested when the party was banned. He participated in the movement against

untouchability Untouchability is a form of social institution that legitimises and enforces practices that are discriminatory, humiliating, exclusionary and exploitative against people belonging to certain social groups. Although comparable forms of discrimin ...

in 1934 and opened his ancestral temple to all for the first time in Odisha. Later, he started Gandhi Karma Mandir at Agarpada. He was the President of Utkal Pradesh Congress Committee from 1930 to 1931 and again in 1937. He was nominated to the Congress Working Committee by

Subhas Chandra Bose Subhas Chandra Bose (23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945) was an Indian independence movement, Indian nationalist whose defiance of British raj, British authority in India made him a hero among many Indians, but his wartime alliances with ...

in 1938 and continued till 1946 and again from 1946 to 1950. He was the President of State Peoples' Enquiry Committee in 1938 and recommended cancellation of Sanada of the rulers and merger of the erstwhile princely states with Odisha Province. He participated in the Quit India Movement in 1942 and was imprisoned from 1942 to 1945. Mahatab was the first Chief Minister of Odisha from 23 April 1946 to 12 May 1950. He was the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry from 1950 to 1952. He became the secretary general of the Congress Parliamentary Party in 1952. He was the Governor of Bombay from 1955 to 1956. After resigning from Governorship in 1956, he again became the Chief Minister of Odisha from 1956 to 1960. During his tenures as the Chief Minister, he played significant role in the merger and integration of former princely states, shifting of the capital from

Bhubaneshwar Bhubaneswar () is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. It is located in the Khordha district. The suburban region, especially the old town, was historically often depicted as ''Chakra Khetra'' and ''Ekamra Khetra'' ( ...

and the sanction and construction of the multi-purpose Hirakud Dam Project. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1962 from

Angul Angul (also known as Anugul) is a city, municipality and the headquarters of Angul district in the state of Odisha, India. Angul has an average elevation of above sea level and total area of 6232 km2. Geography Angul is located at . I ...

and became the vice-president of the Indian National Congress in 1966. In 1966, he resigned from the Congress and led the

Orissa Jana Congress Orissa Jana Congress (Orissa Peoples Congress), generally just called the ''Jana Congress'', was a political party in the Indian state of Orissa. The Jana Congress was formed in 1966 when Harekrushna Mahatab (former Orissa Chief Minister) lef ...

. He was elected to the Odisha Legislative Assembly in 1967, 1971 and 1974. He was imprisoned in 1976 for protesting against the

Emergency An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...

Intellectual pursuits

He was the founder of the Prajatantra Prachar Samiti and started the weekly magazine ''Prajatantra'' in 1923 at Balasore, which later became the ''Daily Prajatantra''. He was the chief editor of a monthly journal ''Jhankar'' since its inception. He also published the Weekly English paper ''The Eastern Times'' and was its chief editor. He received the

Sahitya Academy award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...

in 1983 for the third volume of his well-known work, ''Gaon Majlis''.

Awards and honours

He was the President of

Orissa Sahitya Academy Odisha Sahitya Akademi () is an institution established in 1957 in Odisha for the active promotion of Odia language and literature. It was created as an autonomous literary organisation. In 1970 it was converted into a society. Activities The ...

and Sangit Natak Academy for a couple of terms. He received an

honorary Doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

degree from

Andhra University Andhra University is a public university located in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. It was established in 1926. It is graded as an A++ institution by NAAC receiving a score of 3.74 on a scale of 4. History King Vikram Deo Verma, the Mah ...

, an honorary D.Litt. from

Utkal University Utkal University (UU) is a public university in Bhubaneswar, Khordha, Odisha, and is the oldest university in the state, and the 17th-oldest university in India. The university was established in 1943 and was operating from Ravenshaw College ...

and an honorary Doctorate of Law from

Sagar University Dr. Hari Singh Gour University (DHGV), formerly University of Saugar and more popularly known as Sagar University or University of Saugar, is a central university in the city of Sagar, the state of Madhya Pradesh or (MP), India. It is one of ...

.
The Odisha State Central Library, the apex library of the state public library system of Odisha is named after him as Harekrushna Mahtab State Library. It was established in 1959 with 3 acre campus at state capital,

Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar () is the capital and the largest city of the States and territories of India, Indian state of Odisha. It is located in the Khordha district. The suburban region, especially the old town, was historically often depicted as ''Chakra ...

.Welcome to Harekrushna Mahtab State Library
Hkmsl.gov.in. Retrieved on 26 November 2018.

References

External links

Orissa Chief Ministers ListOrissa Chief Ministers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahatab, Harekrushna 1899 births 1987 deaths Governors of Bombay Chief ministers of Odisha Members of the Constituent Assembly of India Indian independence activists from Odisha Prisoners and detainees of British India Journalists from Odisha Indian National Congress politicians from Odisha Ravenshaw University alumni 20th-century Indian journalists Odia-language writers Indian people imprisoned during the Emergency (India) Chief ministers from Indian National Congress Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Odia Indian male journalists People from Bhadrak district Utkal Congress politicians Commerce and industry ministers of India India MPs 1962–1967