- The Ministry of Tribal Affairs highlighted the contribution of freedom fighter Laxman Nayak.
- Facts about Laxman Nayak:
- Born: on 22 November 1899 in Tentuliguma village of Koraput district, Odisha.
- He was a tribal leader of the Bhumiya community of Odisha.
- He was famous as the Gandhi of Malkangiri region because he believed and followed the Gandhian principles of truth, non-violence and peaceful non-cooperation.
- He joined the Congress and offered individual Satyagraha in 1940 and was arrested.
- In 1942 he asked his fellow tribesmen to respond to Gandhi’s ‘do or die’ call, to which they responded enthusiastically.
- Laxman followed the Gandhian principles of truth, non-violence and peaceful non-cooperation throughout his life to oppose the cycle of oppression by the British.
- Strengthened the principle of Swaraj by advocating the use of the charkha through door-to-door campaigns.
- But on the eve of his death, he left a message for his fellow prisoners that if the moon and the sun are eternal truths in the sky, so too is Indian independence, which will soon come.
- Laxman was hanged in Berhampur jail on 29 March 1943.
