It is the 96th anniversary of the birth of Baji Rout, who was the youngest martyr in the history of India’s freedom struggle. He was slain by the British police on the night of October 11, 1938, at Nilakanthapur Ghat in Bhuban for refusing to ferry them across the Brahmani river. He was born on October 5, 1926, in the village of Nilakanthapur in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district.
It was the year 1926. Baji Raut was born in a tiny hamlet in Dhenkanal, Odisha. The youngster would soon lose his father and be raised by his mother, who worked in the neighbourhood shucking rice for a wage.
At the time, Shankar Pratap Singhdeo was the ruler of Dhenkanal and was notorious for robbing impoverished people of their wages. Even Baji’s mother suffered losses.
The time was right for a mutiny as Odisha was withering under strain. Although Baji was of adult age, Veer Baishnav, as he was affectionately known, raised a flag of rebellion against the king and established Prajamandal, which had a Banar Sena wing made up of young children.
Interesting Facts about Baji Rout:
At a young age, he had lost his father. His mother was able to support herself by working as a neighbourhood rice husker.
He had witnessed the ruthless way in which Shankar Pratap Singhdeo, the Dhenkanal King, was robbing the poor people, including his mother, of their hard-earned money. Baji joined Prajamandal despite his young age when Baishnav Charan Pattanayak of Dhenkanal town, afterwards known as Veer Baisnav, hoisted a banner of revolt against the King and created it.
He opposed both the British and the tyrannical Dhenkanal government.
At a very young age, he joined the Prajamandal Banar Sena (Party of the People).
He had offered to stand vigil by the river at night as an involved member. He was asked to assist the British Police in crossing the river in his boat, but he declined. Then the police opened fire on him.
Baji Rout and five additional people were killed by British military gunfire. He was 12.
The well-known song “Baji Rout” by eminent poet Sachi Rautroy, which Harindranath Chattopadhyay translated into English, launched an unparalleled national movement for the liberation of the people from the rule of princely state kings.
After starting his poem Baji Rout on the cremation ground itself in the light of the pyre, Sachi Rautroy needed a few days to gather himself before he could finish it.
2018 saw the release of the Chinmoy Das-directed short film Baji – the Immortal Boat Boy, which is about Baji Rout.
Prasanta Patnaik 
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