Laxman Nayak or Laxman Naik (22 November 1899 – 29 March 1943) was a

tribal The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

civil rights activist of South

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 ...

in eastern

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. He belonged to Bhumia tribe of Odisha. Nayak, an Odia folk-hero of Malkangiri of southernmost part of

and a cult-figure among its tribals, was born in Tentuliguma village of the Malkangiri district and his father Padlam Nayak was a tribal chief and 'Mustadaar' under ' Jeypore Samasthanam' in the then

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

Presidency. The local administration worked as a subsidiary of the

British Government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

. The tribals under their administration were treated badly by revenue officials, forest guides and police constables, and were subjected to

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...

. Nayak organised the rebels successfully against exploitation by the officials of Jeypore Samasthanam. This brought him recognition as a potential tribal leader and the Indian National Congress admitted Nayak into its fold. During the course of his training in Naupuri training centre for Congress workers, 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

Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British ...

an 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 Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

to every tribal household of his area and brought about a total change in the rural scenario. He became the leader of mission in the Congress campaign in the Koraput Sub-division during the first ever election in 1936. Responding to the call of Mahatma Gandhi, Nayak led a procession on 21 August 1942 and demonstrated peacefully in front of Mathili Police Station. The police however fired at the demonstrators indiscriminately, which killed forty and injured more than two hundred people. The administration framed Nayak in a case of murder of a friend and the

death sentence Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

was pronounced on him on 13 November 1942. He was hanged on 29 March 1943 in

Berhampur Berhampur (; also known as Brahmapur) is a city on the eastern coastline of Odisha, India. Known as the "Silk City" it is the headquarter of Ganjam district, Ganjam district and home to Odisha's one of the major and the oldest railway station ...

Jail.Laxman Naik - The Immortal Martyr of Quit India Movement
Govt. of

, e-magazine.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nayak, Laxman 1899 births 1943 deaths Indian civil rights activists People from British India Indian tax resisters Nonviolence advocates People from Koraput district Activists from Odisha Gandhians